From Dusk Till Death
by forerunner919
Summary: It has been six years since Shadow the Hedgehog last battled against the forces of evil, when he disappeared from sight and believed to be dead. Not much has changed with his old friends, but when Sonic gets mortally wounded during a battle, Shadow must now face off against a new enemy, one more powerful and more dangerous than ever before.
1. Chapter 1

The black hedgehog laid down on his back, staring up in the clouds and trees above him, listening to nothing but the sounds of the birds around him. The sun streaked through the branches, scattering the light across the morning sky. The hedgehog smiled as he enjoyed his surroundings, not wanting to move from his spot in the forest.

He had been there for a few hours, as long as he could remember, but he felt no need to get up and walk around. He was content to stay where he was, alone and uninterrupted by anyone. Besides, it's not like he would be of any use to anyone – he didn't know where he was, what he was doing out in the woods, what he was doing with a shiny emerald in his hand – or even his name.

Not that the hedgehog was worried at all. He didn't want to be bothered, didn't want to be interrupted by anyone. For all he cared, he was perfectly fine lying there, even as the sun started to get right into his eyes. He grabbed the emerald again, staring into the mesmerizing object. He could barely make out what he looked like from the reflection glaring back at him, with the glass being so thick he could only see the pure white colour of the gem. He felt his face with his hands for a few moments, trying to piece together what exactly he looked like, but couldn't gather up any references from the past. For the hedgehog, there was no past to draw up from.

The hedgehog groaned as he slowly sat up from the ground, leaning onto his knees. He opened and shut his eyes, sluggishly waking up from what seemed to be an eternal sleep. He shook his head as he breathed in the humid air surrounding him. He picked up the emerald again, this time paying more attention to the jagged edges of the gem. He wondered to himself how the emerald could have been cut so precisely, so perfectly, and wondered why he kept being drawn into the emerald, as if it was calling into him.

"It's as if it wants me to go somewhere," said the hedgehog out loud to himself. "The trouble is, I don't know where to go…"

The hedgehog got up on his feet, and almost by instinct, walked towards the river that was a few feet away from where he was. The sounds of the water flowing gently on the rocks nearby started to become more and more apparent, and the hedgehog dipped his hand into the water out of curiosity. Immediately, he drew his hand back, startled at how frigid the water was. He knelt down by the river, studying the water more and more intensely as it rolled and bounced around in the creek, turning at each rock and piece of wood scattered throughout.

The emerald started to call out to the hedgehog again, demanding its attention back. Annoyed, he picked it back up from the ground, confounded by its silent calling. The emerald wasn't talking to him, but it glowed on and off, gaining the hedgehog's curiosity back again.

"Where does this thing want me to go?" asked the black hedgehog. "I don't know what this thing is trying to tell me."

Out of the corner of his eye, the hedgehog noticed a red echidna walking towards him, almost astounded by his presence. The hedgehog stayed where he was, just as confused as the echidna was, as the two met each other's eyes.

The hedgehog shook as the echidna squinted to focus more on the hedgehog. "Who are you?" asked the hedgehog.

The echidna scratched his head. "I should be the one asking you that! If you're who I think you are… you were supposed to be dead six years ago."

"Six years?" the hedgehog turned away from the echidna. "That can't be possible…. But then again, I don't remember anything that happened at all before today."

The echidna sighed as he fixed his cowboy hat. "You're Shadow the Hedgehog, aren't you? You look like you haven't aged a day since I last saw you. Don't you remember me at all? You don't remember helping out with Sonic when you stopped the Ark from destroying the Earth?"

The hedgehog looked around himself at the echidna's questions. "That sounds oddly familiar… Shadow… But I don't remember anything that you've said I've done."

"I can't even begin to describe what you did," said the echidna. "Come with me, Shadow, I'll try to jog your memory as best as you can. And I'll tell Sonic about you as well. He'll be so happy to see you again!"

"Sonic…" the hedgehog whispered to himself as he walked beside the echidna. "What does he look like? What do I look like?"

The two arrived at a wooden house perched underneath a large tree, its branches covering the roof. As the hedgehog went inside, he laid himself down on the straw couch, rubbing his face. He had only been walking for a few minutes, but he felt like it took forever to get to where he was.

The echidna took off his hat as he took out the receiver of the radio nearby the entrance. "Where's Sonic at, Miles? You'd both better come here to my place immediately. It's easier if I show you who decided to drop by."

"We'll be both there soon, Knuckles," a loud boom replied on the radio. "This better be good."

Knuckles put down the receiver and went back to the black hedgehog, who was staring blankly at the top of the ceiling of the house. Knuckles grabbed a glass of water and gave it to the hedgehog, bringing up a chair beside him. The hedgehog gently took the glass and sipped it, before placing the glass down on the floor beside his feet.

The hedgehog looked up to Knuckles, seemingly concerned. "What… did I do to deserve this?"

Knuckles leaned forward to face directly at the hedgehog. "If you knew the good you did for the Earth, you would understand why I'm helping you out. I don't know what happened to you in the last few years, Shadow, but whatever the case… we'll bring you back to normal."

"I don't know what's happened in the last six years, either," replied Shadow, shaking his head. "It's like I just appeared here, as if I had never existed before."

The two sat quietly in the room for a few minutes, before Knuckles answered a knock on the door, letting a two-tailed yellow fox inside.

"Sonic said he'll be around in a few minutes," said the fox in a low voice, as he raised his goggles onto his forehead. "Just tell me what's going on… what the?"

The fox stopped right where he was standing, staring right at Shadow. "Knuckles… how is this possible? I thought he was…"

Knuckles walked up right to the fox. "Dead, I know, but there he is, right in front of us. I don't understand this just as much as you do."

The fox walked past Knuckles and sat beside Shadow, with the two being at a similar height to each other. "Shadow? Do you remember who I am? My name's Miles – you probably remember me better as Tails. Where have you been the past six years?" It's been so long since I last saw you…"

Shadow stared blankly at Miles for a couple of seconds, before turning away and sinking his head toward the ground in despair. "I… don't remember… I'm sorry…"

Miles shook his head. "You're sure this is really Shadow, Knuckles?"

Knuckles shrugged his shoulders in exasperation. "I mean… it looks like him, sounds like him… even his eyes are the same. I don't see why it can't be him."

Miles turned back to Shadow, and noticed the emerald he had been holding in his hand all the time. Miles fixed his gaze onto the emerald, astounded beyond comprehension.

"Can I see the emerald, Shadow?" asked Miles.

Shadow cautiously handed over the white emerald over to Miles, and then sat back down on the couch to stare up at the ceiling. Miles went over to Knuckles with the emerald, eager with anticipation.

"See if you can get anything from this emerald," said Miles to Knuckles. "You've been able to read past events from the emeralds before, right?"

"I'll try," sighed Knuckles. "It won't be easy. I haven't done it in a while. And I'll need a quiet place to do it so I can stay focused."

Miles nodded and let Knuckles go into his bedroom with the emerald, as Knuckles shut the door and closed off all the blinds, leaving Knuckles with a dark room inside. Knuckles sat upright on his bed and took the emerald into his hands, focusing all of his energy into the emerald, tensing his muscles to squeeze out every last ounce of energy into the emerald's powers.

Within a few minutes, Knuckles was mentally absorbed into the emerald, lying down on his bed as his eyes were glued shut while he was going through the images seen by the emerald, figuring out what had happened to Shadow six years ago.

He could see the Ark floating in space, with its cannon aiming directly at the Earth, ready to attack. He could also see Shadow and Sonic fighting with the Ultimate Lifeform, just as Knuckles remembered it happening six years ago. The events that were occurring with him and the emerald were exactly as Knuckles remembered it happening back then, as Knuckles witnessed it from onboard the Ark itself.

As the Ultimate Lifeform started to become mortally wounded, he could see Shadow spiralling down towards the Earth, running out of energy from the emeralds they had used beforehand. As Shadow was about to enter the Earth's atmosphere, he tensed up his muscles, just like Knuckles did to draw into the emerald's energy. Shadow started to glow bright like the sun, using up every last drop of his energy, becoming so bright that it was blinding to look at, even through the images of the emerald. The flash of light got so intense that Knuckles couldn't stare at it for very long, but after a couple of seconds, the flash was gone, along with Shadow, leaving nothing in its trace.

Knuckles was then taken with Shadow forward into a portal, with Knuckles only able to witness from afar what was happening to Shadow. Around him the universe seemed to distort and vibrate, bending in all sorts of directions as Shadow faded in and out of consciousness. The portal caressed and cared for Shadow, protecting him from any danger as Shadow was suspended in midair, his limbs floating aimlessly. Eventually, the portal started to form into recognizable shapes, as Shadow landed softly onto the ground below, while the trees and grass of the forest started to fall into place. After a few moments, the shapes started to form the forest that Shadow was in, placing him into the present day, safe and sound from the dangers six years ago.

Knuckles could only witness in awe of the images laid out in front of him by the Chaos Emerald. "So Shadow was vaulted forward in time, taken out of outer space, and landed here, as if nothing had happened… while retaining nothing of what had happened…"

Soon the images of the emerald started to fade, as Knuckles was being brought back into reality into his bedroom. "But if the emerald remembers what had happened, then why doesn't Shadow remember anything?"

Knuckles woke up from his trance and gasped for air, holding the emerald firmly in his hand, the same emerald that Shadow used to transport himself six years into the future. "If what I was shown was true, then these emeralds are more powerful than I ever imagined…"

Knuckles ran out of the bedroom and back into the room where he left Miles and Shadow by themselves, but was stunned when he found only Miles standing near the door, baffled and confused.

"Where did Shadow go?" shouted Knuckles. "I thought you were keeping an eye on him!"

"He was here just a moment ago!" yelled Miles. "Then shortly before you came here, he got up and ran out of the house! And I don't know where he went!"

But just a few feet away from Knuckles' house, Shadow ran outside, as if his internal senses started to click in at once. Shadow ran towards the river that he was in a few minutes ago, unsure why he had suddenly darted away from Knuckles' house and back into the wilderness.

"That's odd," said Shadow to himself. "I could have sworn someone was coming by, but I don't see anyone around me…"

At that point, Shadow looked back into the river, and through the reflection of the water, he could see a blue hedgehog, around the same size as himself. Shadow looked up from the water and saw the hedgehog standing on the other side of the river, staring right at Shadow, as if he had seen a ghost from the past. The two hedgehogs could do nothing but stand still and look at each other, completely speechless and still, not wanting to leave from where they were standing, lest they lose each other again.

In that moment, Sonic knew exactly who he was staring at, as a warm smile started to come across his face. Sonic then broke the silence, tears about to roll down his face, as he realized who had appeared in front of him for the first time in six years.

"Good to see you again… old friend."


	2. Chapter 2

"So you don't remember _anything_ from when we first met?" pleaded Sonic.

Shadow shrugged and shook his head, frustrated at not being able to satisfy Sonic. "I keep telling everyone this, but I don't remember a damn thing from before. Not from the six years I've supposedly travelled, not from the battles onboard the Ark, nothing!" He turned to Sonic, noticing how despondent he was at the moment. "Sorry, it's just that ever since I arrived here, that's all that everybody's been asking me. I just want to give my head a rest from all this."

"I didn't mean to be bitter at you," sighed Sonic. "It's just that you were a good pal to me and everyone here, and I want you to remember what we accomplished together. Besides, I want to make sure you have your identity back, I don't want you going around not knowing who you are! I'm sure there's a good explanation for all this, Shadow, and we'll help you any way we can get your identity back."

Shadow could only stare back wide-eyed at that promise. "You'd really do that for me?"

"Of course," cheered Sonic, patting Shadow on the back. "You really meant a lot to me. All this time I thought you were dead, but now you've come back somehow. And besides, that's what friends are for, right? We're supposed to look out for each other, Shadow, no matter what."

Shadow quietly nodded, giving a quick smile on his face, showing a rare piece of emotion. "Thanks, Sonic. That's awfully nice of you to do this for me."

Sonic noticed his communicator was buzzing as he wrapped his hand on Shadow's shoulder. "It's the least I can do for a friend, Shadow. I'll be right back." Sonic got up from the grass they were sitting on as he took out his communicator out of his pocket. "What's going on, Miles?"

"Something's happening at Station Square," said Miles on Sonic's communicator. "There's lots of robotic armies circling the place, and they're coming by fast!"

"Looks like our buddy is up to one of his schemes again," sighed Sonic, speaking on the communicator. "I'll be over as fast as I can."

"Where are you off to?" asked Shadow overhearing the conversation.

"Looks like Doctor Eggman decided to pay a visit to Station Square, and it ain't friendly," chirped Sonic. "I was just going to go over to see if Miles needed any help."

"Let me go with you," said Shadow. "If you're willing to help me out, I'll do the same to you."

"Thanks, bud," smiled Sonic, "but I don't think that's a good idea."

"Even with this thing?" smirked Shadow, taking out his Chaos Emerald.

"Hey, you've been holding out on me!" Sonic was beaming as he gazed into the Chaos Emerald. "Well, with this thing, we'll take care of Eggman in no time!"

Shadow nodded as he grasped the Chaos Emerald in his hand. "Sounds like a plan… friend."

The two then darted off towards Station Square, until they arrived at the coastline, overlooking the buildings inside downtown. From their vantage point, they could see Eggman's robotic enemies descending downwards from the skies, attacking anything within their sights.

"Just as I thought," grumbled Sonic. "Eggman's always up to no good. I really thought we got rid of him last time…"

"Was that six years ago?" asked Shadow.

Sonic looked towards the Chaos Emerald that Shadow was holding. "The last time Eggman attacked here was more recent. Ever since you left, Eggman decided to try and take us down again, take over the world and rule his own empire… some things never change."

Shadow brought up the Chaos Emerald to where his eyes met, grasping it in his hand. "Well… what are we waiting for, then?"

In a flash, Sonic and Shadow jumped over the coastline into the downtown area, right where the robotic army was landing from where they were coming from. Sonic did a spin dash into the first few enemies he saw, sending them face down onto the road below them. Shadow saw what Sonic was doing and emulated what he did, taking out another few robots. Sonic then jumped and performed a homing attack on a few enemies to land on top of a building, with Shadow following close behind taking out more enemies along the way.

The two were left standing on top of the building, barely breaking a sweat from the battle, as they stared in front of a highway they were nearby. "This way, then!" cheered Sonic, leaping forwards.

Shadow followed right behind Sonic as they barreled down the highway, dodging the stranded cars left behind as the people inside them either ran away or cowered inside their cars. Sonic took out any robots standing in his way, clearing the path for Shadow to follow him.

Eventually, Sonic stopped dead in his tracks, as Shadow nearly overran him trying to figure out what he had stopped for, before looking up and seeing an elaborate drill machine, standing twice as tall as the hedgehogs on the ground.

"Is Doctor Eggman inside that?" asked Shadow.

"I doubt it," shrugged Sonic. "It's probably one of his elaborate machines that he created. I don't know what he plans to do with this drill of his, but it doesn't appear to do any good!"

Before Sonic could study the drill further, the machine powered up, spinning its drill faster than even Sonic could spin up himself, and aimed its drill towards the two hedgehogs. The two dodged out of the way, both on opposite sides, as the drill screeched to a halt, marking up the highway with its tires.

Shadow went behind the drill machine and started bouncing off the back without hesitation, sending some bolts flying off the machine in the process. The drill then quickly turned around before he could do any meaningful damage, as it darted towards Sonic's direction. Sonic jumped above the machine as it rolled by, and homed in another couple of times onto the machine, causing a bit more damage than the last time.

Sonic landed back on his feet and turned himself to face the drill machine, seeing Shadow land right beside him. "Looks like a simple device to take down," huffed Sonic. "Just might take a while."

"Is it possible to flip the drill upside down?" asked Shadow.

Sonic scratched his chin, raising an eyebrow. "Hmm… never thought of that. Well, maybe we can use the emerald to generate enough force to flip the thing over!"

Shadow took the Chaos Emerald and sped off towards the drill machine, circling around it as it stopped in its tracks. Shadow then ran up behind the machine again, but jumped right before he was going to hit the back, and stomped on the ground nearby the machine, temporarily getting the wheels off the ground before it landed on the ground again. Shadow waved Sonic over without speaking, and got himself ready to pound the ground again with the Chaos Emerald, as Sonic ran towards the machine.

This time, as Shadow pounded down on the ground, Sonic got underneath the drill machine, and held it up off the ground from the back. Shadow ran over and pushed the machine with Sonic, slowly tipping it over on its side until they flipped the whole machine over, as the machine tried in vain to move its wheels to get away from the hedgehogs.

"There," panted Sonic. "That should take care of that."

From a distance away, the two hedgehogs could hear someone shouting and complaining, and they turned around to see a small child wearing a lab coat, stomping his remote controller in rage.

Sonic was mortified as he saw the child yell and shout. "My god, if that's who I think it is…"

"Haven't you had enough of tormenting a poor, little child?" shouted Doctor Eggman, rising above the highway in his ship, as he approached the child. "I thought you were more decent than this, bullying my boy and breaking his toys."

"He should learn like example and treat others with respect!" snapped Sonic back.

"ENOUGH!" Eggman brought his son onboard his ship, putting him in the back seat. "I've just about had it with you, Sonic, and I'll see to it that you'll never mess with the likes of the Robotnik Army ever again!"

Sonic chuckled, crossing his arms. "Hey, maybe you'll get smart enough to realize you'll never beat us, Eggman!"

Doctor Eggman ignored his arrogant remarks, as his attention turned towards the hedgehog standing beside him, holding the Chaos Emerald. Eggman's face grew red in rage as Sonic chatted lightly with the hedgehog. "SHADOW! What the hell do you think you're doing being with that hedgehog? You should be working for me, you idiot!"

Shadow looked at Sonic, giving a blank stare. "What do I say to him?"

Sonic waved off Shadow, as he smirked at the Doctor. "Looks like times have changed, Eggman! Maybe you'll begin to realize that even _he_ doesn't want to be with you anymore!" shouted Sonic, referring to Shadow.

Eggman growled and grunted in rage, smashing his hand down on the ship. "I never should have trusted you in the first place, all those years ago. You've caused me nothing but trouble back on the Ark, and now, after all these years, you've finally decided to show who you _really_ are! Get away from me, you traitor! Gamma! Take out those two hedgehogs!"

E-102 Gamma flew into range beside Eggman's ship, arming his gun as he aimed it towards the hedgehogs._ "Target Acquired and Ready,"_ buzzed Gamma.

Gamma then started to fire rapidly at the two hedgehogs, but they darted away from the line of fire before Gamma could hit any of them. Gamma then fired his gun crazily as each hedgehog came into view, but found no success reaching any of them.

"This is getting ridiculous," snarled Eggman. "Gamma! Take those hedgehogs down as best as you can, I'm going to bring some more reinforcements!"

Out of the corner of his eye, Sonic could see Eggman flying away in his ship into the distance, not giving him any time to react to chase after him. "Let's get out of here, Shadow! Eggman's bailed from the battle!"

The two jumped off from the overpass on the highway into the streets below and ran away from where Gamma was back into the downtown area, littered with cars and smashed windows everywhere.

"Eggman's probably going to bring another machine over here," said Sonic, catching his breath. "What he wants to do with Station Square, I don't know… but this place is an absolute mess!"

"Sonic," asked Shadow cautiously. "What did the Doctor mean when he said that I caused trouble on the Ark?"

"I think he still holds you responsible for what happened back on the Ark," explained Sonic. "It'll take too long to explain now. Right now, we got to get more reinforcements of our own – before Eggman comes back again!"

* * *

Back at the workshop, Miles got back up from underneath the Tornado 3, painted both red and blue, emulating the two previous versions before it. He noticed Sonic and Shadow approaching the Tornado, and walked up to them as he wiped off the dirt from his face.

"You just about ready to go, Sonic?" asked Miles.

"Pretty much," replied Sonic. "We just need to make sure the radar is working properly before we go out there trying to find Eggman again."

Miles went over to the dashboard of the Tornado 3, turning on the lights to his satisfaction. "Everything seems to be all set to go. From what Eggman's done in the past, he should make his next move during the night."

Shadow looked bewildered as he scanned the Tornado. "So where are we going to fit on this?"

"We'll ride on the wings," smiled Sonic. "It'll be fine!"

"I don't think so," Shadow grumbled as he kept searching around the Tornado.

Miles looked over to Shadow as he overheard the conversation between the two hedgehogs. "Would you rather go there by foot?" he joked.

"I suppose not," sighed Shadow. "Just make sure I don't fall off."

"Relax, bud," said Sonic, wrapping his hand around Shadow's shoulder. "Miles is a good pilot. Even if something does happen, it'll be smooth sailing until we hit Station Square again. The best part about it is that we can leap off at any time and join in the action! So what do ya say?"

Before Shadow could properly reply, Miles fired up the Tornado and hopped right into the cockpit, while Sonic leapt onto the left side of the plane. Shadow sighed and climbed onto the right side, barely able to grab on to the wing as it moved outside the hangar and flew out into the skies, as the wind blew against his face.

Eventually the three made it into Station Square, just as the sun was about to set on the day. As the Tornado flew above the buildings, Sonic scanned the area, searching for anything out of place.

"I don't see any badniks anywhere," said Sonic. "They must be hiding away somewhere. Miles, do you have the radar on?"

"It's been on for the last couple of minutes," confirmed Miles. "I haven't seen anything out of the ordinary yet."

Shadow knelt on the wing of the Tornado, just as had been for the last few minutes. He kept looking forward, not moving his head either to the side or down below, not wanting to know how high he was up off the ground. He kept to himself for most of the ride, but as the Tornado approached the Radical Highway, Shadow turned his eyes to face Sonic.

"Sonic?" Shadow called out.

Sonic turned his head to face Shadow, still holding onto the wing of the Tornado. "Yes, Shadow?" he called out.

Shadow hesitated for a few moments as Sonic began paying more and more attention to Shadow. "You've been really nice to me, Sonic, even though I don't remember anything we did together. I can't thank you enough for helping me out."

"Thanks, Shadow!" smiled Sonic. "I'm always happy to help!"

Shadow faced forward on the plane, trying to think of something else to say to Sonic. However, he was interrupted by Miles' radar setting off an alarm, beeping faster and faster.

"There's a couple of badniks coming up right behind us!" yelled out Miles.

Shadow and Sonic turned around and noticed the bug-like badniks flying behind them, as they shot flames out of the robotic stingers and hit the Tornado directly. Miles swerved the Tornado towards the right to get out of the direct line of fire, but Shadow fumbled his grip on the wing, slipping away from the Tornado as he grabbed the wing back again, dangling from the side as he saw the distance between himself and the ground below. Shadow used all of his strength to get his feet onto the Tornado, as Miles straightened out the Tornado as it started to go straight again.

"Sorry about that, Shadow!" yelled Miles over the engines of the Tornado. "There's more badniks than I thought. I can't shake them off without risking sending you off the plane! Try to get the ones behind us off our back!"

"It's too far," replied Shadow, keeping a firm grip on the Tornado. "I don't have anything to hit them with, and if I jump off, I've got nowhere to land." As he said this, Shadow looked forward again and noticed that the Tornado was flying nearby a tall bridge leading straight into the Radical Highway. "Fly towards the bridge, Miles, then we can get rid of the badniks behind us and get onto the bridge while doing so."

"You got it," answered Miles as he turned the plane towards the bridge.

"On my count," said Shadow to Sonic, "jump and take out as many badniks as you can. Then we can get onto the bridge. Eggman shouldn't be too far behind."

"I'm all ready," cheered Sonic. "Just say the word!"

Shadow judged the distance between the plane and the bridge, preparing his muscles as the plane got closer and closer. The badniks approached the Tornado as well, going faster than the Tornado could, steadily catching up to the plane. Eventually, the badniks were right behind the Tornado, and were preparing to shoot at the Tornado again.

"Now!" Shadow yelled, jumping off the Tornado without hesitation. Sonic followed quickly behind him, and the two both homed in onto the badniks, taking the two behind them out in one shot. Sonic then jumped down onto the top of the bridge, landing on the top of the bridge's tower. Shadow went towards another couple of badniks while he was still in the air, homing in on both of them one after another, before landing on the bridge's tower in the same way as Sonic did.

"We'll follow Miles as best as we can on the bridge," explained Sonic. "He'll lead us right towards Eggman."

Shadow nodded and jumped down onto the railings of the bridge, using his shoes to slide his way down the railing as it curved downward and back up again towards another tower. Sonic followed closely behind Shadow as they built up enough speed to overcome the height of the railing and back onto the next tower.

Past the next bridge tower was more robots floating around, guarding the place. Sonic jumped ahead of Shadow and took them out with his homing attack, one by one. Sonic landed down on the bridge below, then spin dashed towards the robotic army arming their weapons at the two hedgehogs. Shadow followed right behind Sonic, taking out any other robots that Sonic missed along the way.

Sonic then got to a part of the highway that had been broken up into pieces, as down below he couldn't see the ground at all. "Looks like Eggman's responsible for this," Sonic growled. He jumped up from one piece to the other, carefully making sure that he landed properly onto the platform before jumping to the next one. Shadow was much more hasty when jumping, almost carelessly going from one platform to another.

As Shadow jumped off the last platform and back onto the section of the highway that had remained intact, Sonic got startled by Shadow's pace as he landed right beside him.

"Careful where you're going, buddy!" Sonic jumped.

Shadow didn't reply, only instead looking forward into the highway, as it curved upwards and downwards. He spun up for a moment before taking off down the highway, and Sonic did the same, trailing right behind him as they ran up the highway.

As Shadow reached the top of the curve, a flurry of bullets started to rain down onto the highway, forcing Shadow and Sonic to take evasive action by jumping off the curve. The two landed down beside each other again, and while Shadow seemed unfazed, Sonic looked back towards the top of the curve.

"What the heck was that?" shouted Sonic. He was then interrupted by the sounds of a loud ship hovering over them as it descended downwards towards the two hedgehogs. Sonic and Shadow jumped out of the way as the ship rushed past them, sending down more bullets.

"You have the Chaos emerald, right?" asked Shadow, catching his breath.

"Of course!" smirked Sonic, as he brought out the emerald. "Wouldn't come here without it!" Sonic then rushed at the ship with the power of the emerald, hitting right at the windshield of the ship and sending it backwards. The ship then stopped and brought itself back towards Sonic again, as Sonic jumped and homed in at the ship again, taking out some of the metal pieces of the ship.

Shadow spun himself around to gain speed, then as the ship started to move towards him, Shadow dashed towards the ship and as the two were about to meet, Shadow bashed against the windshield, causing it to crack slightly. Sonic attacked the windshield again, causing the crack to grow bigger as the ship started to waver and shake from the damage being given by the two hedgehogs.

The pilot of the ship spun the ship around as the hedgehogs split up and started to move towards the ship from both sides, and the pilot started to send more bullets down their way. Sonic and Shadow sidestepped to avoid the bullets, though Shadow briefly tripped and fell on the ground, getting some dirt onto his face. Shadow managed to jump up and get into the air before the ship could properly aim at him, while Sonic took the Chaos Emerald and absorbed some of its energy, as an aura of energy started to form around him.

Sonic then released from where he was standing and charged right at the front of the ship, sending it completely backwards as it scraped onto the bridge ahead of them. Shadow prepared to keep attacking at the ship, but the pilot jumped out of the cockpit as the ship started to burst into flames, taking up the whole width of the bridge.

Out in the distance, Sonic spotted Eggman's ship approaching the two hedgehogs, along with a whole army of robots flying beside him. Sonic took the Chaos Emerald and mentally prepared himself for the upcoming battle, soaking up more of the emerald's energy.

Eggman hovered over the wreckage of the destroyed ship, out of reach of the flames as it started to die down. "I don't know why I keep sending these idiots to you guys," Eggman grumbled. "I'm just about done messing around."

Sonic let out a light chuckle. "So you've finally decided to show your face around here, huh? Ok then, bring it on!"

Without hesitation, Eggman commanded his robots to swarm the two hedgehogs, but as they started to approach Sonic, Sonic let out a burst of energy, which sent the robots back a few feet. Shadow spun around and jumped into the air, taking out a couple of robots in one go.

A few of the robots landed onto the ground and transformed into ones with legs and arms. Some of them armed themselves with guns built into their arms, while the rest charged up towards the two hedgehogs, ready to battle directly at them with hand to hand combat. The robots started to punch and kick at Sonic and Shadow, and they could do nothing but defend themselves, either by blocking their punches or jumping out of the way. Shadow jumped back onto the edge of the bridge to take a breather, while Sonic kept fighting with the robots, defending anything that they could throw at him, and sending some punches of his own. But even with the Chaos emerald powering him, the robots proved to be very sturdy and strong, withstanding each of his attacks.

One of the robots managed to strike Sonic directly in the face, sending him down to the ground briefly, though Sonic was able to get himself back up without hesitation. Sonic started to growl as he charged up with the emerald, gritting his teeth. Two of the robots started to run towards Sonic again, but Sonic let out another burst of energy at the robots, sending them back into the ground. However, they got themselves back up from the ground, hardly showing any signs of wear.

The two robots charged right back at Sonic and resumed their attacks at him, as Sonic blocked everything they threw at him, with each hit becoming more and more painful than the last. Sonic then jumped back to the other edge of the bridge, as the two hedgehogs faced directly across from one another on opposite sides.

Doctor Eggman smirked as he looked on at the battle. "Giving up so soon?"

Shadow stood tall as he stared right at Eggman's eyes. "Not by any means, Doctor," he scowled, just as he jumped off the ledge and rejoined the battle. Shadow spun as soon as he landed and quickly charged up to speed before darting off and hitting one of the robots right in front of him, sending the robot down onto the ground. Shadow turned around and saw another robot coming up from behind, ready to attack, so Shadow swung around and kicked the robot to get it off its feet, then as the robot was about to get itself back up, Shadow did a spin dash right at the robot, breaking off one of its legs.

Sonic went down to where Shadow was, and as the two met, they ran towards where Eggman's ship was hovering above the fight, and Shadow lifted Sonic's feet up in the air as Sonic jumped right at Eggman's ship, only to be stopped by an invisible force preventing him from reaching the ship, as Sonic landed back onto the bridge.

"I didn't think you'd be so stupid to jump up here," cackled Eggman.

Sonic brought out the Chaos Emerald, and as he was getting ready to charge up some energy, a laser came and shot out the emerald right from Sonic's hand. Sonic quickly turned around and saw that a robot had approached him from behind and was getting ready to fire at him again, so Sonic jumped out of the line of fire, only to be stopped by a couple more robots quickly closing in on where Sonic was. They punched Sonic a few times and kept beating him up, as he was thrown away from where the emerald was, landing hard onto the ground.

"Shadow!" Sonic called out. "Go get the emerald!"

Shadow noticed the legless robot straightening itself off the ground, getting its weapon ready. "Look behind you, Sonic!"

Sonic took a hit from the gun of the legless robot, falling back down to the ground. Shadow started to run over towards Sonic, but Sonic waved him off. "Forget about me, Shadow – just get the emerald!"

Shadow looked back and forth between Sonic and the emerald, both at equal distance in either direction from Shadow.

"Just get it!" yelled Sonic, as he jumped back on his feet, as more badniks started to swarm around him, forcing Sonic to swat away at them.

Shadow quickly ran over towards the emerald and grabbed it off the ground, just as a robot was about to pick it up. Shadow barged through the robot as he kept running after picking up the emerald, splitting the robot in half as it fell to the ground.

Sonic was able to get rid of the last of the badniks that had swarmed around him, but the legless robot armed its weapon again and shot directly at Sonic, hitting him in the chest as he grimaced in pain, flying back towards the ground.

"SONIC!" Shadow furiously ran towards where Sonic was, but the legless robot kept shooting at Sonic as he tried to get himself back up, to the point where he had more bullet holes and lacerations than fur on his body. Sonic kept trying to stand up on his own power, but Sonic eventually collapsed, as he started to bleed from head to toe.

Shadow took the emerald in his hand and charged directly at the legless robot, blowing it up into pieces and leaving a small crater behind. Shadow then looked up to Eggman's ship floating above the battle, as his blood started to boil to a crisp while he grasped the emerald, shaking the fist he made with the emerald.

Energy started to envelop Shadow as he built up more and more anger, seeing Sonic's nearly lifeless body on the ground. "You're going to pay for this, Doctor…"

Shadow then grabbed one of the pieces of the destroyed robot from the ground, and with a fit of rage, hurled the part at Eggman's ship, as it bounced off Eggman's force field, as Eggman chuckled quietly. Shadow then took more and more bigger pieces of the robot, throwing them faster and faster at Eggman's ship, until he got towards an abandoned police car sitting nearby. Shadow carefully picked up the car from the side, raising it slightly above the ground as he swung it around and flung it right at Eggman, faster than any of the parts of the robot he had thrown before. The car hurled forward at the force field, smashing straight through the barrier as the car bounced off Eggman's ship, nearly throwing him off balance.

Shadow then leapt up into the barrier-free ship, landing on the side as he climbed up to the dashboard as he breathed heavily in and out, gritting his teeth as flames could be seen from inside his eyes. Eggman nervously moved back as much as he could on the small ship, shuddering in fear as Shadow kept approaching Eggman, until Eggman was pressed against the side of the ship. Shadow then jumped at Eggman and started to beat him senselessly, punching him from every angle possible as bruises started to form on his face. Shadow then stepped back for a moment, then jumped right back at Eggman, grabbing him by the throat as he strangled him, while Eggman struggled to breathe.

Shadow's grip on Eggman's throat grew tighter and tighter as he scowled in anger. "I won't let you get away with this… not over my own life."

Eggman wrestled with Shadow's arms in vain, trying to break free from his grip. As he gasped in and out for air, his hand stretched out towards the side of the ship, reaching out until he grabbed hold of the knife that was nearby, and then quickly swiping it at Shadow's arm, causing Shadow to wince in pain, letting go briefly of Eggman's neck, allowing him to roll free of Shadow and get up as he was gasping for air.

Shadow saw Eggman get up from the floor of the ship as he swung his fists around towards Eggman's head, knocking him off hit feet as he went over the side of the ship, barely grabbing onto the ledge in time. The ship tilted downwards towards the ground as Eggman struggled to get back up, as Shadow hit Eggman's hands off the side of the ship, sending Eggman down to the ground, albeit at a lower height than it was before. Eggman landed flat on his back on the hard ground below, as he weakily got back up onto his feet.

Shadow went over to the controls of Eggman's ship, grabbing hold of them as he brought the ship down to where Eggman was getting up, charging the ship right at him as Eggman bounced right off and fell back down on the ground again. Shadow turned the ship around and went back towards Eggman, firing one of the weapons at Eggman this time as he ran right over the Doctor as he fell on his back again. Eggman rolled around so that he could look forward at where Shadow was turning the ship around again, and quickly brought out a pen-shaped device, pressing the button as the ship blew up in an explosion, self-destructing the ship.

Shadow fell off what remained of the ship and onto the hard ground, bouncing away from Eggman as parts and scraps went flying in all directions. Shadow grimaced as he slowly got back up on his feet, as he saw a couple of Eggman's robots go towards the Doctor and help him back off the ground.

"You haven't seen the last of me, Shadow," scowled Eggman, as the robots started to fly above the bridge and into the sky. "But your blue friend will certainly be done for, once and for all."

As Eggman flew off with his robots, Shadow looked around the bridge for any more enemies nearby, but found that they had all left with Eggman. Shadow then saw Sonic lying out of breath, and Shadow instinctively ran towards Sonic, lifting his head off the ground.

Shadow could only look on in terror as he saw vast amounts of blood covering Sonic and the ground around him. "Sonic… speak to me, Sonic!" he shouted, stuttering his words.

Sonic weakly looked up to see Shadow's face, barely able to keep his eyes open.

Shadow started to tremble as Sonic hazily glazed back at Shadow. "I don't know… what happened… I… I'm so sorry…"

Sonic lifted his head as much as he could, as blood came out of his mouth. "Shadow… It's… not… your… your…"

Sonic's head fell over to one side, as he collapsed in front of Shadow. Shadow carefully picked up Sonic off the ground as blood started to drip onto his own body. Shadow growled and shook in anger as he started to make his way back towards Miles' base. "Damn you, Doctor… Damn you…"


	3. Chapter 3

Miles could only look on from the distance as the badniks swarmed the Tornado, cornering him from every angle possible. He could only watch from afar the battle between Doctor Eggman and Sonic and Shadow, battling together to take down Eggman's evil empire once and for all. But as Sonic went down for the count, Miles abandoned his attacks on the badniks and tried as best as he could to get out of the battle and go down to ground level to save Sonic.

Tears started rolling down Miles' face as he kept getting attacked by the badniks, even as Eggman was retreating back to the distance. It was the frustration of not only being unable to save his friend, but also the amount of anger built up against Eggman over the years all of the sudden coming to a boil.

"Damn you, Eggman…"

Even before Miles could get close to the bridge where the battle had taken place, he could see Shadow carrying Sonic and running towards the highway, seeming just as desperate as Miles was. Miles could barely see where Shadow was as darkness started to fall in earnest for the night, with only the highway lights leading the way for both Shadow carrying Sonic, and Miles flying above them.

Shadow blasted his way through the highway, carrying Sonic as he went through the forest and into where Miles' base was located; Even though he had only been there a couple of times before, it was as if he instinctively knew where the base was, imbedded into his mind. Shadow didn't wait for Miles to land the Tornado, though, as he ran right over the front door and into the hangar, leaving a hole behind.

Miles landed not far from where the hole originated, hastily jumping out of the Tornado as he ran through the hole to get inside the base. "How bad is he?" cried out Miles.

"I don't know," shook Shadow, as he laid Sonic onto a workbench, clearing off any tools that got in the way. "I just saw him go down, and I got surrounded by Eggman's army. When I got a chance get to him, he was already like this…"

Blood started to get all over Shadow's hands as he wrapped bandages around Sonic's head and torso, so as to stop the bleeding. Miles rushed into the area with a defibrillator, running as fast as he could while nearly making the machine fall down in the process, catching it just before it fell. After he righted the defibrillator, Miles put on the patches onto Sonic's chest, slapping them on as he fired the machine up.

"These bandages will have to do," sighed Shadow. "Let's hope this thing works."

Miles looked on at the monitor and saw the heartbeats registering from Sonic's body. "His heartbeat's jumping all over the place. I'll have to send a shock to get the heartbeat going back up to normal again. Keep compressing his chest while I get this up and running!"

Shadow leaned up onto the workbench as he started to pump Sonic's chest at a fast and steady rate. He looked over at Sonic's face, glazed over and unconscious as there were still areas around his body that were bleeding, left over from all the bullet holes planted in his body. Shadow then started to receive vivid memories of the past six years ago, remembering back when the two were on the Ark, as Shadow kept pushing down at Sonic's chest.

_What you see is what you get_, Shadow recalled in his head, as if the memory happened yesterday. _Just a guy that loves adventure! _

Shadow turned back to the monitor and noticed that the heartbeats were becoming more and more irregular. Miles put on a jolt into Sonic's body, but it did nothing to change the situation.

"He needs BLOOD, Miles! He's losing more blood by the minute!" Shadow started to press down faster and harder on Sonic's chest out, growing more and more panicked.

"I don't have any blood on me," shouted Miles. "I can bring in an IV and use some of my blood, but..."

"DO IT!" screamed Shadow. "I'll stay here with him... as long as it takes."

Miles ran into the back room while Shadow kept pressing down Sonic's chest, using all of his strength. More vivid memories returned to Shadow, most of it from the battle with the Final Hazard outside the Ark, using all of their powers to defeat the monster and save the earth. He could easily recall the partnership they formed together, teaming together to save all life on earth, knowing they would become heroes. The two would alternate attacks back and forth at the monster, steadily weakening at it until it finally was defeated.

Sonic cared for him even after being at odds with each other in the weeks before that fateful day on the Ark. He cared for him even after being with Eggman in the past, working together to take over the planet. He cared for him, as Shadow was working towards *saving* the planet, only moments after vowing not to save anyone in his path. He cared for him, even after disappearing for six years. Sonic still remembered him as an old friend all these years later.

And now Sonic was dying, right in front of him. "I could have saved him," trembled Shadow, shuddering under his breath. "I've got to do something, anything to get him back alive again!"

Miles returned with the IV and sent another shock from the defibrillator into Sonic, but it also had no effect on him. Miles took out the IV and placed it directly into Sonic's arm, before putting the other end onto his own arm. Red blood started to rise up from Miles' arm as he looked away from the fluid, as it went into the IV bag and back down into Sonic's arm, pumping directly into his body.

Miles powered the defibrillator and put a third shock into Sonic, one much more powerful than the first two. Sonic's body jostled for a second, before returning back to its comatose state. He waited a few seconds, letting Shadow pump Sonic's chest a few more times, before adding more voltage to the defibrillator. Miles sent out the next shock, doing the same thing as before, jolting Sonic's body for a second before lying still again.

"Come on, Sonic..." Miles said to himself as more of his blood went into Sonic's body. Miles looked on at Sonic as Shadow was pushing harder and faster onto Sonic's chest, shuddering as Sonic laid still on the workbench. Miles turned to the monitor and saw Sonic's heartbeat becoming more erratic and faint, dropping in pace by the second. Miles put on the maximum power he could onto the defibrillator, setting the charge as he took a deep breath. Miles let the charge go to Sonic, jostling him around more furiously than before, but still not succeeding in reviving him.

"WAKE UP, SONIC!" shouted Shadow, as he was huffing heavily in and out, while sweat started to pour from his forehead. Miles set the charge on the defibrillator again, letting the charge go as Sonic's body jumped up and down, but still not doing anything to revive his weakening heartbeat. He waited a few seconds, then set the charge up once more, closing his eyes before sending the shock on the defibrillator.

Shadow saw Sonic's body jump up again from the shock, not responding to anything sent from the defibrillator. "Dammit!" he growled. "We have to put in more power on this thing!"

"That's the most I can give out," sighed Miles despondently. "Any more would kill him."

Shadow hurriedly looked around the workshop while he kept pushing down Sonic's chest. "Is there anything we can use in here to get him back?"

Miles didn't immediately reply, focusing instead on the monitor, which had steadily declined. "His heartbeat's going down! I don't understand how this can happen..." Miles shook his head, doing his best not to burst in anger. "I'm starting to get faint as well, I don't know how much more blood I can give him..."

"WHAT?" Shadow snapped, turning directly to Miles. "We need to give him more, before he goes on us!"

Miles tripped up as he went towards the defibrillator, holding his head as he charged up the machine once more. Without saying a word, Miles took a deep breath as he sent the charge down to Sonic's body, keeping an eye on the monitor, as it started to show more and more erratic results.

Shadow was now heaving down on Sonic's chest, pressing it down harder than even he knew he could. "SONIC!" he cried out, tears nearly forming down his eyes.

The monitor started to dim and grow faint, its beats occurring slower and slower, weaker and weaker by the second, as Sonic lay still on the workbench. The monitor then grew silent, its signal completely flat, as Miles disconnected the IV from his arm, slumping to the floor in agony. He was completely speechless, not wanting to say anything to disturb his own sorrow.

Shadow kept pressing down on Sonic's chest, but even he started to slow down as the monitor continued to display nothing. "Please, Sonic... don't go..." Shadow squeezed his eyes as he held back his tears. He stopped his compressions on Sonic, breathing heavily in and out, hearing the monitor quietly drone on in the background, while Miles sat down on the ground, putting his hands and head on his knees, solemnly staring at the ground.

Shadow's fist started to shake and tremble as he simmered in front of Sonic, lying motionless and still. Shadow opened his eyes, now red with rage, as he turned towards Miles.

"You... you killed him! You let him die!" Shadow cursed, huffing in fury.

"WHAT?" Miles jumped, lifting his head up to see Shadow.

"You let him die, and you didn't do enough to save him!" Shadow blurted, pointing at Miles, who had become pale in the face. "You didn't use that machine enough! You stopped the blood flow, you pathetic fool!"

Miles started to step back as he gave a disgusted look on his face. "I gave him all that I could, Shadow!"

Shadow then turned back to the defibrillator, turning on a charge himself and sent it to Sonic's body. Sonic jumped around as he did before, but nothing came of it. Shadow resumed compressing on Sonic's chest, shuddering and shaking more than previously before, as he faced towards Miles. "Well, don't just stand there," growled Shadow. "DO SOMETHING!"

Tears were flowing down Miles' face as his voice trembled in agony. "Shadow... he's... he's..."

"THEN GET OUT!" shouted Shadow as he started to run out of breath. "Get out of my face, you idiot!"

Miles ran out of the workshop, sobbing profusely, as Shadow grabbed the IV cables and yanked it towards himself, nearly causing the whole device to fall over. Shadow fumbled at the cable, trying to reach to the end. "How does this thing work?!" he growled in a panic. Shadow found the tip of the cable, and immediately stabbed it into his right arm, writhing in pain as a result. Shadow then went back to Sonic, pressing down on his chest again, as the blood inside the IV started to turn into a browner shade of red, different from the bright red blood Miles had put in before.

A minute later, Shadow turned on the defibrillator again, setting off a maximum charge once more. Sonic predictably shook for a second, then laid still as he did the other times he was jolted from the defibrillator. Shadow started to up the pace of his compressions on Sonic, going faster and harder than he did previously, as the blood started to flow faster and faster into Sonic's body.

Shadow kept going in this cycle for a few minutes, sending frequent compressions into Sonic's chest, sending a shock from the defibrillator, and cursing at himself before resuming the compressions on Sonic again. All while this was going on, massive amounts of blood was pumped into Sonic's body, and Shadow also started to grow faint from the blood loss.

Shadow sent off another jolt from the defibrillator, as he hazily moved towards Sonic's body, completely out of breath. "Can't... stop... can't... give... up... can't... leave..." Shadow kept pressing down on Sonic's chest, but started to slow considerably as Shadow's vision started to become narrow, blurry and faint, as blackness started to form around the borders of Shadow's vision.

Shadow stumbled a couple of times as he reached towards the defibrillator, bumping the IV as it shook, but Shadow caught it before it hit the ground. Shadow went towards Sonic as he reached up his arms to compress his chest again, but Shadow could not push down at all, as Shadow became dizzy and disoriented.

"Sonic... I'm... sorry..." Shadow slipped towards the ground while he leaned his hands onto the workbench, before slumping to the ground. Shadow leaned forward to try to get back up off the ground, but eventually fell back onto the workbench and collapsed, with the IV still connected to his arm, sending more and more blood into Sonic.

Minutes passed as both Sonic and Shadow lay motionless, leaving only the monitor which was still droning on in the background. The wounds across Sonic's body had stopped bleeding, leaving the wounds to dry up. Sonic's hand started to slowly twitch, first from only his finger, then his hand, as it twitched with more and more intensity until it could form a full fist, gripping and releasing more and more frequently.

Sonic's wounds then started to bubble, as a liquid formed around the wounds and remained there until the liquid merged with the skin underneath Sonic's fur, and disappeared from sight. Sonic then started to twitch his legs, as his fur started to grow into a darker shade of blue, so much that it wasn't the bright blue fur it was before, but almost to the point where it was completely dark, though not as dark as Shadow's black fur.

After another minute, Sonic took in a short breath as he started breathing slowly in and out, taking in deeper breaths by the second. Eventually, a wide smile slowly started to form across his face, as Sonic chuckled lightly to himself. Sonic then took in a large, deep breath, and rose from the workbench, keeping his eyes closed while he kept taking in the air around him.

Sonic slowly opened his eyes, now completely blank and empty, void of life or colour. Sonic stepped over to where Shadow was lying, taking the Chaos Emerald that was nearby him. Sonic smiled as he stared into the emerald, looking at the reflection of himself. His eyes then glowed brightly, to the point where his pupils were barely noticeable. Sonic then got onto his feet, walking slowly towards the exit of the workshop as the IV placed into his own arm popped off, while casually holding the emerald in his hand.

At this point, it was completely dark outside, and not even the stars in the night sky were able to light up the area. But Sonic took the white emerald, as it started to shine brightly around him, glowing just as bright as the eyes on him. With the emerald, Sonic chuckled and smirked as he held the emerald in front of him.

"Now the real fun begins..."

Sonic then generated an aura of energy around him as he looked towards the skies, and blasted off into the distance, away from Miles' workshop and into the wilderness. In just that moment, the trees whistled in the wind generated from the aura of energy around Sonic, before becoming still again, undisturbed in the night as it once was.


	4. Chapter 4

The sun had risen once again over the Mystic Ruins, though the amount of clouds covering the sky foresaw a rainstorm up ahead, dampening Miles' mood. He had ran far away from the workshop the night before, afraid to return back in fear of being attacked by Shadow again. But in the sleepless hours afterward, Miles had reluctantly been making his way back, bereft and despondent beyond belief.

Miles could recall walking through the same forests many years ago, running away from the bullies that teased him all those years ago. Those memories remained vivid in his mind as a cool wind blew in, bringing in the rainstorm that was coming inevitably. Miles let the wind cool down his own mind, as it was fuming with rage and anger, and the wind gave temporary relief over his own agony.

It felt like yesterday that Miles first met Sonic the Hedgehog, as he was running away from his so-called "friends" that teased him and mocked him for his two tails, much unlike the other foxes, who only had the one tail behind them. Just because of that, Miles was broken and depressed as a young child, all alone with nobody to believe in him. But that blur that sped by him gave Miles a glimpse of hope, even back then.

The younger Miles ran towards Sonic, as Sonic noticed the young fox screaming out his name and stopped dead in his tracks to figure out where the noise was coming from. Miles then got within sight of Sonic, jumping and shrieking for joy.

"Sonic! Sonic! You're my hero!" Miles called out. "I wanna be just like you one day!"

Miles kept running right towards Sonic, believing that Sonic was still running, only for Sonic to slow down as the two met each other eye to eye. Miles slid his feet as fast as he could, but couldn't stop himself from sliding into Sonic, tumbling forward as he kept tripping up on his two tails. Miles sobbed on the ground, crying loudly as Sonic rushed over towards the young fox.

"Hey, buddy," Sonic said to the younger Miles. "What's the matter?"

Miles kept bawling as he hung his head down low, wiping his hands with his tears. "Oh Sonic… I really want to be as cool and as awesome as you! But I keep falling down like this!" Miles sobbed quietly for a couple of seconds, catching his breath. "…I'm a freak! I can't be as cool as you! I'd be better off cutting off my tails!"

Sonic drew his head back, almost stunned at the words the young fox was saying out of his mouth. But Sonic sat down next to Miles, wrapping his hand onto Miles' shoulder. "Listen, buddy… you're not as bad as you think you are. In fact, you're more special than anyone else. You have something that they don't. They can't do the things you can do. If anything, they should be jealous of you!"

Miles shook his head, holding his hands in front of his eyes. "But I can't do anything special! I'm a freak, Sonic! All my friends keep saying that I am!"

"You don't need to listen to them," said Sonic, standing up from the ground. "I'll show you what you can do with those tails of yours! I'll bet that if you spin your tails around fast enough, you can fly up into the air like a helicopter!"

"There's no way I can do that," sobbed Miles. "I keep tripping on my tails, and I keep falling down every time I try to do something. And it looks so ugly…"

"Don't worry about how it looks, buddy," said Sonic encouragingly. "Just try to move your tails around in a circle. Nobody's watching, and if someone mocks you, I'll tell them to get lost! People who call you names and put you down all the time aren't your friends, anyway."

Miles sighed and brought up his tails off from the ground, glaring at them in despair. He slowly brought the tails up to speed, spinning them at a steady rate but ended up not going anywhere. "See?" cried out Miles. "It didn't do anything!"

"Go faster, buddy," encouraged Sonic. "Just like how I move my feet when I'm running. Go as fast as you can!"

Miles brought up his tails again, this time making more of an effort to spin his tails around. He got them to spin faster than before, but still couldn't get off the ground. Miles let out a big breath, then puffed his chest and furiously spun his tails, much faster than before. He kept spinning and spinning the tails, using all of his might to gain more and more speed. Miles closed his eyes shut, focusing on only spinning the tails, when he noticed that his feet were about to leave the ground, and his body tilted forward as it slowly levitated off the ground.

"There you go, buddy!" jumped Sonic. "You're doing it!"

Miles opened his eyes as he looked back towards his tails, beaming with glee. "Wow! I can't believe it!" Before too long, though, his tails slowed down again, and Miles gradually fell back down to the ground, leaving Miles bitter.

"You did great there!" exclaimed Sonic. "You just need to practice some more. After a few tries, you'll be able to get back up in no time!"

Miles caught his breath as he got back up on his feet, closing his eyes again to focus solely on his tails. He spun them as fast as he did the previous time, but only for a short time, barely lifting off the ground before landing back again. He did this for a few more times, getting up to speed faster and faster each time. Miles then took a few deep breaths and spun the tails, going as fast as he could with all his might, going as long as he could and using all of his energy to spin the tails faster than he ever thought he could before. Miles slowly lifted back off the ground, holding onto Sonic's hands along the way.

"That's it, buddy!" shouted Sonic, looking right at Miles. "You're staying up there!"

Miles smiled in glee as he looked between the ground, growing in distance between it and himself, and Sonic, who was now at eye level with Miles. He giggled in delight as he let go of Sonic's hands and hovered directly over Sonic's head, surprising Sonic along the way.

"Wow, buddy," smiled Sonic, looking up at Miles. "You can really fly now!"

Miles pumped his fist in bliss, shouting for joy as he started to hover in circles around where Sonic was standing, laughing and giggling along the way. Miles landed back down on his feet, but Sonic saw in Miles' eyes a new desire to show off his new skill.

"Wait until my friends see this!" shouted Miles excitedly, as he ran towards the grass fields, jumping from the ground and lifting off the ground, flying in midair. Sonic ran after him, stunned at the speed Miles was flying at, making Sonic work to catch up to the young fox.

Sonic caught up with Miles and the two looked towards each other, each of them giving an encouraging smile to one another. They both nodded and ran in front of the group of foxes around the same age as Miles, staring at the two in shock as they saw Miles flying beside Sonic.

One of the foxes turned towards the other, his eyes widened at the sight of the two-tailed fox floating in midair, speeding by the group with Sonic the Hedgehog. "Gee… where did he learn to do that?"

"I don't know," said the other fox. "Wish I could fly like that…"

Miles ignored the awes and gasps of the crowd of foxes and ran with Sonic back into the forest, where he grew tired and gradually landed back down on his feet, sliding on the ground while stopping himself. Miles looked to Sonic, holding his thumb up and smiling in approval of Miles' efforts.

Miles ran up to Sonic and hugged him, resting onto Sonic's shoulder. "I don't know how to thank you, Sonic…"

"You just did," Sonic replied to Miles, wrapping his arms around him. "I told you were more special than anyone else! And if anyone ever doubts you, just say that Sonic told you that you're special."

Sonic released his arms from Miles and knelt down to see Miles eye to eye, as Miles gave a warm smile to Sonic, now much more confident and ecstatic than he ever felt before. "Your two tails are more exceptional than ever before, so I'm gonna call you Tails, so that you always remember how special your two tails are."

Miles giggled in joy as he heard the new nickname. "Tails? What a cute nickname. I never got a nickname before… Can I hang out with you more, Sonic?"

"Of course you can," smiled Sonic. "I'm always happy to be your friend. And I'll put you into my new special training, so that you can do more things with those tails of yours. Then you can be a great example to everyone around you, because you can prove to everyone that everyone is great at different and unique things. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise, Tails."

From that day on, Sonic and Tails formed a friendship that stayed through hardships and tough times, always happy to be near one another. And as the sun from that remarkable day faded into the clouds of the present, Miles was quietly sobbing to himself, sitting underneath a tree as the memories faded from his memory.

Soon all that was left in Miles' mind was the wind blowing in his ears, helping wipe off any tears left on Miles' cheek.

"He believed in me when I was a freak, and he believed in me enough to take me under his wing." Miles slowly started to get himself back up from the ground, shuddering from the increasingly chilly wind. "I have to go and avenge Sonic's death, if only to return the favour for what he gave to me. And I have to defeat Eggman, whatever it takes to settle the score once and for all."

Miles brushed off the dirt from his body as he walked towards his base, full of determination against Eggman. As he approached the entrance, his heart started to jump in anxiety, reliving the memories of what happened the previous night. Shadow's outburst was at the front of his mind, as Miles shuddered in fear.

"I have to go back in there, whether I like it or not," growled Miles. "If I only do one thing, it's to take care of Sonic's body and give it a decent burial."

As Miles headed inside the workshop, he found Shadow lying on the floor beside the workbench that Sonic had been laying on, with an IV tube stuck to his arm, dangling across his body. Worse still was the fact that Sonic's body was nowhere to be seen, as lots of blood and dirt could be seen all over the bench, and the other end of the IV was left empty.

Miles ran over to Shadow, pulling out the IV from his arm as he started to lift Shadow onto the workbench. "Not you too, Shadow…"

Just as Miles had put Shadow upright off the floor, Shadow opened his eyes and slid back down, trying to get himself back up again but finding it difficult to balance himself. "…Wha… what happened?" he mumbled.

Knuckles entered the workshop, rushing in towards Shadow and Miles. "What are you two doing there? And where did Sonic go? Are you pulling a prank on me?"

"This isn't any prank," scoffed Miles. "Sonic really was attacked badly last night! I just don't know where the hell his body went!"

Shadow stuttered and mumbled intelligible words as he was sat upright onto the workbench, spinning his head around in a small circle as his eyes were glazed over, unable to focus on the bright sunlight beaming down onto the workshop.

"Is he trying to say something?" Knuckled asked Miles.

"I can't even tell what he's doing," grumbled Tails. "I just don't want another hedgehog to die on me."

Knuckles drew his head back as he went to get a glass of water for Shadow. "So what the hell happened? Sonic was fighting Eggman and he got hurt?"

"I couldn't tell exactly what happened up in the air," explained Miles, as he gently slapped Shadow's face to grab his attention. "But after he got hurt, we brought him over here as fast as we could, and things just started to go from bad to worse. I left here during the middle of the night, so I don't know what Shadow did with Sonic between then and now."

Shadow sat himself up without saying anything, as he and Miles met each other in the eyes, drawing Miles' attention.

"Shadow!" Miles called out. "Where's Sonic?"

Shadow stared blankly right through Miles, unable to see more than the blurred colours lighting up the workshop. "I don't know where the hell I am," he stumbled.

* * *

Out in the pristine fields of Green Hill, Sonic looked out into the distance of the waters and admired its magnificence, seeing the hills and loops that he had just conquered a few minutes previously. He beamed with excitement with an energy he hadn't felt at any point in his life, and he held his Chaos Emerald firmly in his hand, ready to take his next steps.

With only a hearty chuckle, Sonic jumped off the platform he had been standing on and ran towards the closest loop he could find, running around it in a matter of seconds, gaining speed as he exited the loop and went towards the bridge up ahead. With no badniks in sight, Sonic could simply run right through the bridge, as he bounced off the center of the bridge and leapt near the waterfalls nearby the bridge.

Sonic then spun himself around and built up speed for a few seconds, before blasting away from where he stood, blasting right through the waterfalls with no resistance whatsoever, barely becoming wet in the process. He went through a few streams of water, bouncing off them with absolutely no trouble whatsoever, as he ran into the valley and back into the open air.

Sonic slowed to a stop, still carrying the Chaos Emerald in his hand, as he looked back at the streams of water he had just run through. "This feels too boring," smirked Sonic. "Wish there was someone else around."

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Amy Rose strolling casually in the fields, staring off into space with no clear direction. Sonic ran directly towards Amy, running right up to her as he stopped directly beside her, startling her in the process.

"Sonic!" Amy jumped in surprise. "How are you?"

"I'm doing just fine," replied Sonic confidently. "I should be asking _you_ that lately. It's too boring to walk around here all alone."

Amy smiled faintly, trying not to feel embarrassed. "I guess so… I wasn't doing anything in particular, to be honest. Actually, I was just thinking of you."

"Were you?" Sonic raised his eyebrow, peaking in interest.

"I heard something happened to you," said Amy worryingly. "I thought you were seriously injured yesterday, from all the rumours I keep hearing…"

"Any rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated," boasted Sonic. "Actually, I've never felt better in my life."

"That's good to hear," sighed Amy. "Can't believe everything you hear these days, I guess…"

Sonic moved closer to Amy, moving directly beside her as he started to talk directly into her ear. "You know how long I've known you, Ames? How much I've wanted to be at your side for the longest time? I've never really had the courage to be with you, at least until now."

Amy smiled awkwardly, blushing at Sonic's comments. "That's sweet of you to say that, Sonic. But I'd much rather be alone, I've got a lot on my mind lately."

Sonic moved even closer to Amy, placing his hands onto her hips. "I've always kept my eyes on you, even from far away. And I've always managed to resist the urge to be near you… until now."

Amy turned her eyes to see Sonic as he was kissing her lightly on the neck. "Are you sure you're ok?" she asked skeptically.

"Of course I am," said Sonic, keeping a firm grip on Amy's hips. "I'm always good… when I'm near you."

Sonic moved his head towards Amy's cheeks, as Amy started to squirm around, having her hairs start to stand up. Sonic then moved back towards her neck, and before Amy could protest, she breathed out in relaxation, letting Sonic soothe her neck. A few seconds later, though, Amy started to squirm around again, and got out of Sonic's hands.

"I'm sorry," Amy sighed, turning away from Sonic. "I have to get going now."

Sonic's eyes lit up again, beaming with the energy of the Chaos Emerald. "Oh, I'm afraid I won't let you do that…"

Amy immediately felt sick to her stomach and instinctively started to run screaming in the opposite direction, but Sonic covered her mouth before she could let out a squeak, and held her back with his other hand.

"Nice try, Ames," chuckled Sonic, as an aura of energy started to surround him. "But you see, you would make a perfect queen for my new kingdom. We would both rule together over this vast land, you and I."

Amy tried to scream as loudly as she could, but Sonic kept Amy's mouth covered, muffling any protest she made under her breath. Inside, her heart started to sink as the thought of being made a 'queen' against her will started to terrify her.

"Don't even try to fight it," snickered Sonic, as he quickly brought out the Chaos Emerald, while keeping Amy nearby. "I'll convince you one way or another to be my queen. Of course, if all else fails, the alternative would mean death."

Amy screamed muffled cries in terror, as tears started to run down her eyes. Sonic ignored Amy's cries as he brought up the Chaos Emerald, enveloping some energy around the two hedgehogs, while he laughed subtly, right before vanishing from the valley without a trace.

* * *

It had been a day since Miles had discovered that Sonic had been missing, and no trace of him could be found anywhere within Mobius. He was nowhere to be found within the workshop, and nobody had seen him running around at all.

"He must have gone out somewhere," vented Miles in frustration. "If someone had taken his body, we would have found out about it by now."

Knuckles threw up his hands in disgust. "You think Eggman's behind all this?"

"What would Eggman want with Sonic's body?" replied Miles. "Even if he did have it, he would have shown it to the whole world by now. Somehow, I think Shadow's blood may have revived him, and he must have walked out in the middle of the night, unaware of what's going on around him."

"Speaking of Shadow," asked Knuckles, "Where has he been?"

"He's resting in my room for now," sighed Miles, wiping off the sweat from his head, as he got back down from his Tornado. "He's lost a huge amount of blood, and he's barely had enough time to recover. He can see clearly now, at least. Doesn't act so woozy now."

Knuckled nodded back to Miles as he headed towards the back of the workshop, going through the dining room as he headed towards Miles' bedroom. On his way there, he could see a vast amount of photos hanging on the wall as well as some frames scattered in the dining room. There were many photos of Miles' friends, mainly of Sonic, but of Knuckles and Amy as well. They were all from different points in his life, from when the two first met to only a couple of months ago when Miles had his birthday.

"Sonic was like a brother to Miles," sighed Knuckles quietly to himself, as he waited by the bedroom door. "Oh, Sonic, where the hell are you?"

Just then, Shadow stumbled out of the bedroom, wide-eyed and groggy as he stared at Knuckles, just as confused as Shadow was. "What happened now?" Shadow grunted.

"Nothing, really," said Knuckles, shaking his head. "We still haven't found any sign of Sonic yet."

Shadow looked around the area as he frowned in disgust, as if he was searching for something that wasn't present. Knuckles ignored Shadow as Shadow walked past Knuckles and headed towards the workshop area, when Miles entered the dining room area. Miles stopped where he was, standing right in the middle of the exit of the dining room.

"Tails?" said Shadow. "Or is it Miles? I'm not really sure any more. Listen, I have to apologize for what happened with Sonic…"

"It's not your fault," sighed Miles. "There was nothing more you could have done. Actually, if it weren't for you, I doubt I could have carried Sonic back to the workshop with the kind of injuries he sustained."

Shadow grumbled, crossing his arms. "Means nothing unless we find him, I guess?"

Miles stood quietly in response, unable to think of a reply to Shadow's question. After a few seconds of silence, an alarm went off in the workshop, and Miles ran back to the workshop, with Shadow and Knuckles following behind him.

Inside, Miles brought up the radar scanner, as a map popped up in front of him, showing all the lands of Mobius, with his workshop landing directly in the center of the map. A flashing symbol could be seen in the western portion of the map, with Eggman's logo being the symbol.

"Looks like Eggman has been spotted in the Chemical Plant," explained Miles.

"What's he doing there?" said Knuckles. "There's nothing but a toxic dump over there!"

"Maybe," started Miles, "but I bet you that Eggman is going around finding all the Chaos Emeralds, to combat the one he saw Shadow have." Miles thought to himself for a moment, before sinking in dread. "Shadow… do you know where your emerald is?"

Shadow shook his head in response, not saying a word.

"Must have gone with Sonic as well," groaned Knuckles. "Maybe we can find Sonic using another emerald… which means we should go to the Chemical Plant and get the emerald there before Eggman does.

"I agree that we should go get that emerald that may be at the plant," said Miles. "But I may have another one nearby…"

Miles ran toward the Tornado and went into the cockpit, tearing off the dashboard to uncover another Chaos Emerald, this one green in colour. He brought out the second Chaos Emerald and handed it to Shadow, immediately grasping it in his hand.

"When did you get that one, Miles?" asked Knuckles.

"I've had this one for a year or two so that I could power up the Tornado," explained Miles. "But I thought it would be better off if Shadow had it instead. He'll barely run fast enough without it. And besides, if Eggman does find that Chaos Emerald at the Chemical Plant before us, we'll need to fight him with this one."

"Fair enough," sighed Knuckles. "Guess it's probably better with you two, anyway. If you think the power of the emeralds can help locate Sonic, I can consult with the Master Emerald to see where Sonic is. But even that might take some time."

"I'll let you go and do that," nodded Miles. "We'll take care of things at the Chemical Plant. We can sneak in easier without the Tornado, anyways."

As Knuckles walked out of the workshop, Miles went over to Shadow, sitting down by the Tornado, silent and tentative within himself.

"You got any more weapons?" asked Shadow, looking up to Miles.

"Not on hand… why?" Miles shrugged.

"I just have this feeling…" Shadow said, standing up from the ground. "I have a feeling that we're going to have a war at our hands soon if we're not careful enough."


	5. Chapter 5

Amidst the foul stench of toxins and pollutants circling the air, Shadow and Miles both sat down on a platform overlooking the entire facility. The Chemical Plant, spewing out toxic air to the millions of citizens in Mobius, sat quietly in the distance, overseeing its dominance in the skies.

Miles looked over to Shadow, who was examining his machine gun, measuring nearly as long as Shadow's arm. "You really think that's going to be necessary?" asked Miles.

"I wouldn't have insisted on it if I didn't think it was," grumbled Shadow. "I'm done messing around with Eggman."

Miles left Shadow in silence for a few seconds, unsure what to reply back with. Eventually, Shadow stood up with the machine gun firmly in his hand, nudging Miles with the gun to grab his attention. "Well? Let's get on with it," said Shadow.

Miles got up from where he was sitting, following directly behind Shadow. "No sense waiting any longer. Don't think anyone's spotted us, anyway. We'll get ourselves to the plant as fast as we can, without landing in any of the chemicals. I remember being in that stuff once, and that was when the chemicals were somewhat bearable. I don't want to find out how bad the chemicals are these days."

"Point taken," replied Shadow. "Should be a perfect place to send any of Eggman's goons, then."

Shadow jumped down from the platform to the ramp directly below them as Miles followed closely behind, using his tails to generate more speed to catch up to Shadow. The two made their way towards a gate, which Shadow easily ran through, blasting the gate out of the way and into the chemical sea below them. Miles looked back to check if the gate was connected to any security system, but Shadow was running too fast to give Miles a chance to check behind him, so Miles left the gate behind and kept running with Shadow.

As the two made their way down the laneway towards the Chemical Plant, an army of badniks moved in formation towards Shadow. Shadow brought out his machine gun within sight of the badniks, not hesitating in spending a magazine full of bullets down their way. The badniks fell down from where they were floating around, falling into the chemicals below and corroding within a matter of seconds.

Miles looked on at the sea of chemicals in disgust. "Jeez… it's worse than I thought."

"Good," said Shadow, while reloading the machine gun. "Less of a mess to clean up."

Shadow moved towards the Chemical Plant again, and started shooting at the next line of robots standing in their way, this time being more efficient with his bullets. He spread light bursts across the army of robots, sending only one or two bullets directly into the center of the robots' assemblies. Some of the robots fell down onto the laneway they were on, while a couple of the robots went into the chemicals below, evaporating with the badniks before them. Shadow kicked one of the robots left remaining on the laneway, sending it out of his own way, as he looked up to see a helicopter flying above them.

Shadow took out the machine gun and fired some bullets at the helicopter, but the bullets bounced directly off the helicopter without making even a small dent. Shadow lowered the machine gun as more robots were being sent down from the helicopter, parachuting to the laneway below. A shrill, high-pitched voice boomed on the loudspeaker located on the helicopter below, grating both Miles' and Shadow's ears. "Take _this_, you little twerps!"

Miles uncovered his ears as the robots started to land onto the laneway. "He couldn't have sent his son over here, couldn't he?"

While the child was yelling down some obscenities down towards Shadow and Miles, Shadow brought out his machine gun again and started firing at the robots landing onto the laneway. The first few bullets hit off the casing of the robots, so Shadow kept firing directly at them, eventually making its way through the casing and through the internals of the robots, blowing them apart to pieces, though it was clear that the new robots would need more bullets to be taken down.

Miles ran forward to the next couple of robots, sliding under their feet as snuck behind the robots and tore off one of their heads and threw the head, wiring and all, at the second robot. It was heavy enough to get the robot off balance and trip over the laneway, down into the chemical pit below.

Miles turned around and saw one of the robots approach him that was of the same size he was, and as Miles went over to fight the next robot, the robot grabbed Miles' arms and started grappling with him, wrestling around as Miles struggled to break free from the robot's grasp. Eventually, Miles smacked the robot square in the face, releasing its grip on Miles in the process. Miles then took the opportunity to send a swift kick to the robot, sending it backwards onto the laneway. The robot revealed a gun encased in its arm, so Miles curled himself up in a ball and spun quickly towards the robot, sending it further back than before without giving it a chance to fire any shots at Miles.

Shadow was busy by himself, firing carelessly at the armies of badniks swarming around him, as he scrambled to find cover to reload the machine gun. He noticed that he was running out of magazines to load the machine gun with, so he took out a grenade and threw it at the middle of the pack of badniks shooting in front of him, scattering the group and smashing some of the badniks into pieces. Shadow spun around and jumped at one of the robots closing in on Miles, hitting it into the chemical pit below. Shadow then turned around and swung his leg across to kick one of the badniks out of the way, right before it was about to latch onto his body

Miles noticed more robots dropping from the helicopter in the sky and turned towards Shadow. "We should take care of the helicopter before it sends too many robots towards us," said Miles.

"Take this," ordered Shadow, as he handed the machine gun to Miles. "I'll take care of him with the Chaos Emerald." As soon as he finished speaking with Miles, Shadow leapt up into the air with the green emerald, getting near the center of the pack of robots, freshly landed from the helicopter. Shadow sent out an energy burst right above the pack of robots, scattering them about as they flew into the chemical pit below. Shadow then landed back on the laneway, then jumped straight at the helicopter, grabbing onto the landing bars as he swung around into the cockpit.

Eggman's child noticed Shadow burst himself into the cockpit of the helicopter and shuddered in fear. Shadow went up to the kid's face, sending shivers down the child's spine.

"Hand me the controls to the helicopter," demanded Shadow.

"I can't," gulped Eggman's child. "The only way I can leave this thing without landing is to jettison out of the escape pod."

"Then take this thing back to the Chemical Plant," said Shadow, taking out a pistol as he pointed it at the child's head. "Don't make me ask again."

Without hesitation, Eggman's child turned the helicopter around and flew back towards the Chemical Plant, leaving Miles alone on the ground with a bunch of destroyed robots around him. "Guess I should follow the helicopter," said Miles. "No sense waiting here."

The helicopter carrying Eggman's child and Shadow flew over the entrance of the Chemical Plant, right to the helipad located further inside the complex. Miles was left at the entrance gates to the plant, unable to fly over the barbed wire surrounding the entrance. Miles took the machine gun and blasted the bolts of the gates down, but ran out of bullets shortly afterwards, having no means to reload the gun. He dropped the gun beside him as he pushed down the entrance gate, heading into the complex as fast as he could.

As the helicopter landed back down on the helipad, Doctor Eggman turned around from his computers to see his child land the helicopter with Shadow behind him, pointing a gun at the child's head. Once the helicopter touched the ground, Eggman's child jumped out of the side of the helicopter while Shadow remained in the helicopter, staring right at Eggman.

"The scary hedgehog made me do it," whined Eggman's child.

"Just get out of here," insisted Doctor Eggman. "At least you brought him here to me." Eggman looked over to Shadow, as he slowly descended down from the helicopter while still staring at Eggman. "So," started the Doctor, "You've decided to come back, huh? I was wondering when we'd meet again."

"Just tell me where Sonic is," demanded Shadow, "and I might let you live."

Eggman raised his eyebrow, scratching his head. "Sonic? I thought you dragged him away the last time we met! I have no idea where he is! For all I know, he could be playing with his harp right now, for all I care."

"Very funny, Doctor," scoffed Shadow, drawing out his pistol. "You've done enough damage already, shooting him down like that. I've used this before, and I'm not afraid to use this on you."

Just as Shadow pointed the pistol at Eggman, the pistol was shot out of Shadow's hand, sliding across the helipad until it fell right off the edge and down below. Shadow turned to see Eggman's child with a dart gun, snickering away in the background. Shadow darted towards the child, grabbing him and shaking him in anger as his veins started to boil. He let out a giant roar as he threw the child across the helipad as the child rolled around a couple of times before stopping, wincing in pain.

Doctor Eggman pounded the desk in front of him as a couple of robots went over to tend to his child. "You idiot! I'll make you pay for this…"

As soon as the child was taken off the helipad, more robots came in from both sides, surrounding Shadow. As they lined up their guns to fire at him, Shadow darted towards the first group of robots, punching and fighting at them one by one as he grew more and more enraged. He took one of the robots and threw it to the other group, sending them all flying. As more badniks came in from above, Shadow jumped up and homed in on all of them within a short time of one another, taking them all down in a matter of seconds.

Shadow then turned towards where Eggman was stationed, as Eggman brought down a screen where he was positioned to protect himself from enemy fire. Shadow jumped on the wall underneath the room where Eggman was, as one of the robots went and fired bullets at Shadow. But at this point, Shadow was enveloped with enough energy that the bullets made little impact on him, enough for him to notice the impact but not harming him in the slightest. Shadow turned around and charged right at the robot, ripping off the gun from its hands. He shot a couple of times at another robot running towards him, and took the gun from the second robot as well. Shadow then went back on the wall he was climbing up a few moments ago, going up to where the screen door was placed, as he used both of the robot's guns at the screen door, making a significant dent in the process.

"You fool!" Doctor Eggman shouted on the loudspeaker. "Don't you realize that you would be worthless without my help? You would be nothing more than an experiment without me!"

Shadow then dawned on the past memories with Doctor Eggman, picturing himself back on the Ark, helping out Doctor Eggman as he sought out to accomplish everything he sent him out to do. He remembered the battles with GUN, fighting against Sonic over the Chaos Emeralds, and finding out that the Ark was sent to destroy the Earth, making Shadow battle the Final Hazard to save the Earth…

"You were the one that nearly destroyed the Earth," scowled Shadow. "If anything, you should be thankful you're still alive now because of me!" Shadow jumped towards the dented screen door and burst right through the metal, sending shards across the computer room as Doctor Eggman scurried towards the exit door in a hurry.

Shadow took out one of the robot's guns and aimed it towards Doctor Eggman. "Now you shall pay for your greed, Doctor!" Shadow pulled the trigger, but the robot's gun came up empty, and Shadow threw it across the room in disgust. Shadow darted towards Doctor Eggman as he left the computer room, grabbing him from behind as the two fell down towards the ground.

Shadow got back up on his feet and jumped at Doctor Eggman, who was still on the ground shuffling out of the way as fast as he could. Shadow landed his feet right at Eggman's head, sending scrapes down his face and blood down from his nose. Shadow ran straight back at Eggman screaming in rage and started to beat the Doctor senselessly, sending more blood down onto the ground. As Shadow kept landing more and more punches at Eggman, the speed he was throwing the punches started slowing down more and more, and the intensity of the punches started to weaken, as Shadow grew more faint and pale. He searched for his Chaos Emerald, but found that it was nowhere in sight, not anywhere near his body.

Eggman, now bloodied all over the face, got up from the ground as he started to back away from Shadow, who was crawling towards the Doctor, sweat starting to pour from his face. "Figures," scowled Doctor Eggman, looking down on Shadow. "You're nothing without those Chaos Emeralds. Without them, you're just a worthless pest."

As Doctor Eggman headed back towards the plant, Miles came out of the exit of the plant and swung his tails at Eggman, landing him back down on the ground. "That's for Sonic!" cried out Miles.

Before Eggman could get back up, Miles flew towards Eggman and glanced a blow straight into his stomach, sending him rolling backwards. "And that's for Shadow!" belted Miles.

As Eggman started to slowly get back up from the ground, he noticed Miles bringing out a Chaos Emerald – this one purple in colour, different from the green one Shadow had earlier. Eggman glared at the emerald in bewilderment. "How? How did you…"

"I should have known that you would have kept it inside that helicopter of yours," smirked Miles. "There's no other way a five-year-old could fly that."

Doctor Eggman gritted his teeth as he ran towards Miles, but Miles sent out an energy burst with his own Chaos Emerald, sending Eggman flying back away from the plant and over the edge of the platform they were on, as Eggman held on to the platform by a thread. Eggman went into his pocket and summoned his ship to right underneath his feet, and jumped down onto the ship, grumbling as he sat down. "I'll get rid of that pesky fox, if it's the last thing I do…"

Miles went back towards Shadow, panting heavily on his hands and knees, completely out of breath. Miles brought Shadow up from the ground as Shadow started to catch his breath again.

"You ok, Shadow?" asked Miles.

Shadow wiped off the sweat from his forehead, barely keeping his eyes open. "I… don't know. I was battling with the Doctor, then… something happened. I don't know what."

Miles helped Shadow walk back towards the plant, where they went through the destroyed computer room and back toward the helipad below them. Out of the corner of his eye, Miles saw the glow of the green emerald Shadow had earlier, and hovered down with his tails to the helipad, only to see Eggman's kid snatch the green emerald from his hands at the last moment.

"Haven't you been told not to take things that aren't yours?" said Miles.

"My pops always says to take anything you want, even if it isn't yours!" yelled Eggman's kid back.

Miles grabbed the kid and dragged the green emerald from the kid's hands, leaving the kid stunned. "Hey! What are you doing?"

"Taking what I want," replied Miles, as he flew back up to the computer room, leaving Eggman's kid crying in the background, as another robot took him away from the helipad.

At the computer room, Miles gave the green emerald back to Shadow, while holding onto the purple emerald for himself. "That makes it two emeralds for us, plus the one Sonic may have. We should get as many emeralds as we can, just so that we can thwart Eggman's plans again, whatever they are." He turned back to Shadow and noticed that his face was returning back to normal, becoming more flush with the rest of his body. "You should hold onto the emerald, Shadow. With the amount of blood you lost recently, the emeralds are the only way that you can properly defend yourself."

Shadow shook his head in disgust. "I'm not sure how I lost it to begin with. I was just fighting and…" Shadow stopped his thoughts, unable to say another word.

"What happened?" asked Miles.

"I don't remember," said Shadow.

Miles shrugged, scratching the back of his neck. "Well, it won't do us any good figuring it out here. Let me make a quick call, I'll be right back." Miles took out his communicator and waited as he held the communicator to his ear, waiting impatiently for a minute, before putting it down, growling in frustration. "That's the fourth time today she hasn't answered my call. Something's going wrong."

"Who's that?" asked Shadow.

"I'm trying to contact Amy, see if she's heard about where Sonic might have been," replied Miles. "She doesn't live far from the base, so she should have noticed something if Sonic left suddenly in the middle of the night. But like I said, I called her four times, and she hasn't picked it up. Not even once! I'm real worried that we're going to have to look for Amy as well as Sonic!"

"Does Knuckles know anything about where Sonic might be?" asked Shadow.

"Not yet," sighed Miles. "Knuckles needs to spend time in solitude while he consults with the Master Emerald. If he finds anything, he'll let us know. For now, we need to find as many Chaos Emeralds as we can while we wait until we know exactly where Sonic is."


	6. Chapter 6

Sonic was sitting on top of a stone bench, perched above the aqueducts of Hydrocity, the aquatic labyrinth deep inside Angel Island. It was the perfect refuge for him and his appointed 'Queen,' far away from the prying eyes of anyone else in Mobius.

Amy sat quietly on a leaf bed, as Sonic stroked her quills while Amy was staring off into the distance, stiff as a board and afraid to move an inch. Sonic looked down towards Amy as he noticed how still she had been in the past few minutes.

"What's the matter, sweetheart?" Sonic asked, as he continued to stroke Amy's quills.

Amy didn't respond, not speaking a word or moving her head in any direction, keeping to herself as quietly as possible.

"You shouldn't be so uptight," chuckled Sonic, as he brought up the white emerald closer to himself, glowing at the same time as his eyes. "Soon you'll learn to embrace the power that I have, and the potential that I possess." Sonic kept staring at Amy as he kept her head turned away from him, not saying a word. Soon, Sonic quickly grew impatient. "Are you going to say _anything?_ Or am I going to do something you'll regret?"

Sonic leaned over towards Amy's face, as she gave an awkward smile, staring right into Sonic's hollow eyes. Sonic drew his head away from Amy, leaning back on the bench as he continued to stroke Amy's quills, giving a confident smirk of his own. "That's better… At least if you won't talk, you'll at least give a pretty face. I can tell you're not so convinced of my abilities. But as I get more Chaos Emeralds, I will become stronger and stronger. Eventually, even the wisest of fools won't dare cross me. You'll see soon, Ames."

Amy quietly shuddered to herself, trying as hard as she could not to look back at Sonic, who was to her at one point a good friend. At one point, Amy felt the need to look back and see if this was the same Sonic who was extremely shy to her, but she remained scared to look into his hollowed-out eyes, devoid of any goodness it may have once held. Still, Amy felt torn between keeping to herself while Sonic curled his hands around her quills and double checking to see if this was some sort of nightmare she was experiencing, a bad dream brought about by an undigested meal.

"It could be worse, you know," chuckled Sonic. "I could have left you in the dungeon to rot. But you're worth much more than that to me. Once I get all the emeralds, I can make you do and say anything for me. And if that means making you fall in love with me… then so be it."

Amy held her breath as Sonic laughed heartily in the background, holding back the urge to run away from where she was sitting, knowing Sonic would drag her back at any moment.

"I can sense you're waiting for someone," said Sonic, getting up off the bench. "I can sense it, too. You'll have to excuse me, Ames. There's another emerald for me to catch, and I don't want to be late for the party." Sonic jumped down into a lower level, breathing in the misty air of the water around him. "And don't think about going anywhere," commanded Sonic, turning back to Amy. "I'm watching you."

Before Amy could imagine the feelings fluttering in her mind, Sonic bounced away from where he stood, laughing maniacally as he disappeared into the distance. Amy sat motionless for a few moments, before standing up from where she stood, pinching her arm multiple times. Sonic's laughs of terror rang inside her head as she fell back down onto the leaf bed, holding her hands against her head in agony. The voices then started trailed off, but her headache remained long afterward, as Amy lay down flat on her back on the leaf bed hastily placed on top of the stones surrounding the labyrinth. Amy shook her head, dreading the return of Sonic, holding back bawling out so as to not lure Sonic back to punish her in any way…

* * *

Miles took out his binoculars as he and Shadow reached the entrance of Hydrocity. He scanned as far as he could into the distance, studying where the maze of aqueducts and waterfalls led to, planning his route in advance.

"There's so many places to get lost inside here," said Miles, taking off his binoculars. "One wrong move and you're trapped inside a pit of water, with no way out."

"Perfect place to hide an emerald, if you ask me," replied Shadow, as he loaded his pistol, replacing his machine gun from before. "So where do you suggest we go down first?"

"Let's just go through as far as we can, scanning each corridor," answered Miles. "The sooner we start searching, the sooner we find the next Chaos Emerald."

As soon as Miles made sure that his binoculars was safely inside his bag, the two ran down the slope that was in front of them and sped downwards up until they reached a large water reservoir, when Shadow slid his feet on the ground, stopping at a turn of a dime.

"Water's deeper than I thought," growled Shadow, staring into the abyss.

"Most of this place should still be navigable," replied Miles, as he handed Shadow an item box. "Take this, it'll have a water shield surround you. Don't go too fast under the water, or you might run into something and break it."

Shadow opened up the item box and was quickly surrounded by a giant bubble, covering him from head to toe. Immediately, Shadow could feel the breath around him become very light, less dense than before.

"That should do it," responded Miles, as he opened up his own item box. With both of them having their own water shields, the two dived into the water and sped down towards the corridor in front of them. Miles pushed a lever that opened up a door in front of the two, as they were sucked inside the corridor and down a tunnel, filled with spikes all over the walls. Shadow and Miles were barely able to avoid hitting the spikes by holding onto steel bars laid out in formation, letting go when they felt the current was blowing them away from the spikes. After dodging a few spikes, the two came out of the corridor through a waterfall, falling down into another reservoir below.

Shadow and Miles landed on their feet close to each other as they breathed the thin air inside their water shields. Shadow got himself up from the ground and spun himself to gain speed, blasting away from where the two landed and towards a stone gate, blasting through the gate, even if his speed was severely reduced from the water. Miles followed behind Shadow as they ran through the gate and down another corridor, letting the momentum carry them through as they climbed upwards up until they jumped through the other side of the corridor, jumping through a floor as they reached the surface and landed on a ramp.

Taking a moment to catch his breath, Shadow ran down the ramp, running around a few loops thrown into the mix, as Shadow built up speed again. Within a few seconds, Shadow bounced off a spring which led him to run in the opposite direction. Shadow let his speed take control as he simply kept on running, going down a ramp which ran in the opposite direction he started off at. From there, he went downwards into another spring, bouncing off that and rebounding back towards the water, as Shadow ran over the water, building off his speed as he grazed along the surface, not even getting close to sinking in the water.

Soon, Shadow ran up another ramp and jumped off, flying through the air until he landed in a water pit, sinking down with the water shield protecting him. Shadow looked behind him and noticed that Miles hadn't been following him, but ignored this fact as he headed towards the tunnel laid out in front of him. "He'll find his way back," said Shadow. "He's a smart enough kid."

Shadow sped himself up and burst into the tunnel, smashing through piles of rocks that was in his way. The water did nothing to slow Shadow down at all, as he kept running through the tunnel, winding through the twists and turns along the way until the tunnel wrapped upwards, getting Shadow out of the water as he blasted through the surface, but found himself inside a cavern of sorts, with nothing but stone walls around him. Shadow started to run towards the other side of the cavern, when he felt the ground shake beneath his feet. Shadow reflexively took out his pistol and searched the area, scanning for any machine that may pop out at any moment.

Instead, Shadow found that the water around him was rising faster and faster upwards, removing any of the air that was left inside the cavern. Shadow remained calm, knowing the water shield was still safely around him. He put the pistol away, though, grumbling to himself. "The pistol is useless underwater," said Shadow. "No sense leaving it out for now."

As the water started to go over Shadow's head, Shadow started running towards the other side of the cavern again, when pillars started popping out on both sides of the walls, forcing Shadow to navigate around pillar by pillar. Shadow was unable to build up speed, given that the pillars made him run around in a swirl, not giving him any space to spin himself up. When he got through the last pillar, Shadow noticed one of Eggman's robots scanning the area, spotting Shadow almost immediately as it rang off an alarm inside the cavern, ringing through the water.

"Damn," growled Shadow under his breath. "The pistol would be perfect against this, if this place hadn't been filled with water." Shadow kept his distance as the robot transformed his arm to give a sharp point on the end, as it kept trying to poke at Shadow's water shield. Shadow was able to roll under the robot and deliver some blows from behind, sending the robot into the wall, having some of its parts to fall off. The robot quickly got back up on its feet and darted straight towards Shadow, though Shadow was able to block the pointed weapon on the robot's arm, barely able to get it away from his water shield.

The robot forced his pointed arm closer and closer to Shadow, as Shadow used all his strength to push back the arm, as the arm moved closer to Shadow's head. Shadow forced the arm down towards his torso, and eventually away from his body as the robot jabbed the arm forward, barely missing Shadow and his water shield. Shadow took his opportunity to send another blow towards the center of the robot, having it hit the wall once more. The robot rebounded quickly, diving forward towards Shadow with blistering speed, charging through his water shield as it popped, quickly enveloping Shadow with the ice cold water.

Shadow grabbed the robot on its neck, smashing its head against the wall a number of times, but the robot used its arm to push Shadow away from each other. Shadow spun himself up and darted straight at the robot, landing square in the robot's chest. As the robot landed on the floor, Shadow felt his chest twinge as the call for air rang loud and clear, and Shadow quickly scanned the area to see where the surface was. Before he could act, though, the robot got back up from the ground and attacked Shadow, grappling with him, this time jabbing the pointed arm directly at Shadow.

Enraged, Shadow hit the robot in the head multiple times, giving it a few dents along the way. The robot started grappling with Shadow's arms again, and Shadow instinctively grabbed one of the hoses running along the robot's arm. As he pulled out the hose, a whole mess of bubbles started leaking out from the robot, as it started to lose strength and power rapidly. Shadow took in a quick breath from the bubbles as the robot fell down towards the ground.

Without giving much thought, Shadow turned towards the direction he was going towards and spun himself up again, blasting away until he reached another upwards ramp, which slowed him down. _"Damn,"_ thought Shadow, "the water's really slowing me down now without my shield!" Shadow spun himself back up again and got further up the ramp, eventually reaching level ground as he started to run normally, gaining more speed as he approached a spring, while his lungs were starting to ache for air again.

_"Now or never,"_ thought Shadow, as he approached the spring. Shadow bounced right off the spring and moved upwards in the water. He started to press his lips in as he rose higher and higher, running shorter and shorter of breath. His lungs were just about to burst as he saw more light come into his mind, when Shadow burst through the surface of the water, immediately gasping for air as he landed on the nearest platform nearby.

Shadow leaned forward onto his hands and knees as he gasped for air, shaking off the water on his fur as he looked up to see the area around him. He was back at the surface of Hydrocity, out of the tunnels and caverns down below.

As Shadow got back up from his knees and onto his feet, Shadow heard a familiar voice speak from behind him. "Looking for something?" mocked Sonic.

Shadow quickly turned around and saw Sonic floating in the air above the water, holding three Chaos Emeralds, the white one from before, Miles' purple emerald, and the dark blue emerald as well.

"What's the matter?" asked Sonic, giving a mischievous smile. "You've never seen me with a Chaos Emerald before?"

Dumbfounded by his presence, Shadow just stared back at Sonic. "Where the hell have you been?"

"What do you think?" chuckled Sonic, as he hovered just above the water. "I've been looking for the Chaos Emeralds, just like I was the last time I saw you. And now, I've got three of them."

Shadow took a close look at Sonic, noticing that his eyes was glowing, startling Shadow momentarily. "So are you going to give the emeralds to Miles?" asked Shadow.

"No, I don't think I will," smirked Sonic. "I'm gonna keep them for myself, and I'm going to become the most powerful being in the world. Nobody can stop me once I get all seven Chaos Emeralds, Shadow."

Shadow took a step back on the platform he was on, startled at Sonic's words. "Even in the short time I met you, world domination wasn't something I thought you had in mind! What's going on in here?"

"It's for the good of the world," laughed Sonic. "One thing I thought to myself recently is that there are too many people vying for the same power, over and over again. But I can put an end to all this, Shadow. If I'm the only one in charge, there will be no more hostilities. So if you're smart, Shadow, you'd better hand over the emeralds you'd have, if you want to remain alive."

Shadow bent his legs getting himself ready to jump up as he noticed that Sonic's fur darkened in colour from the last time he saw him, completely unblemished from any scars from before. "Not if I can help it," Shadow growled, as he jumped off the platform and towards Sonic. The two collided with each other in the air, and Shadow fell back down towards the water, barely able to keep himself above the surface as he thrashed his way through the water.

"Nice try," mocked Sonic, as he remained floating in the air. "But you haven't even seen half of my powers yet!"

Sonic brought his two Chaos Emeralds closer to himself, and sent an energy charge downwards towards the water, sending tidal waves in every direction, pushing down Shadow deeper and deeper as he struggled to remain afloat, sinking deep down into the water while being tossed around by the tidal waves.

Shadow unknowingly let out a burst of air from his mouth as his eyes adjusted to the cold, dark water. _"Damn… where am I?" _thought Shadow, flailing his legs around. All around him, he could barely see a few feet in front of him, and there was nothing in sight that he could grab onto or push off against, with the ground nowhere to be seen. Shadow reluctantly let a small bubble out of his nose to gauge where the surface was located, as the bubble floated away horizontally towards his right. Shadow threw himself towards the right to align himself upright, and started to kick his legs in a more predictable fashion as his lungs started to twinge in agony, begging for air.

Shadow stretched his arms as much as he could, realizing how far down he had sunk in the water as he slowly made his way towards the surface. He held in his mouth as tightly as he could to retain the air in his lungs, but another burst of bubbles broke free from Shadow, forcing him to cover his mouth with one of his hands to prevent losing any more air from his body.

As his chest started to heave and his heart rate started to beat rapidly, Shadow kept on pushing his legs to get him closer and closer to the surface, while using his remaining hand to push himself faster while the other hand remained on his mouth. There was still no sight of the surface at all, all while his lungs were becoming more and more pressurized from holding his breath. _"How far down did Sonic put me_?" thought Shadow, as a trickle of bubbles leaked from his nose, enticing his lungs even more as the surface seemed to be further and further away than before.

Another small burst of bubbles came out of Shadow's mouth, forcing Shadow to bring back down his second hand to force any remaining air inside, all while his stomach started to contract from the lack of fresh air, as his lungs remained under intense pressure. Shadow's movements became more frenzied as dread started to sink into his mind with each passing second. _"It hurts…"_ thought Shadow, using every last muscle to push himself towards the surface.

Shadow removed his hands from his mouth and started to uncontrollably push his arms around the water, moving himself faster and faster, as his lungs were now burning with a huge intensity he had never experienced before. Shadow focused on getting himself towards the surface, but his lungs begged for air, as bubbles started to leak from his nose and his mouth, despite his best efforts to keep them both shut tight from the water.

Eventually, Shadow could no longer hold his breath, and let out a huge burst of air out, closing his mouth within a second. _"Aargh… this is unbearable!"_ thought Shadow, as he pressed his mouth shut, biting the inside of his lips to seal them as best as he could. But his lungs started to pang again, and more bursts of bubbles started to come out, more and more frequently as Shadow kept instinctively closing his mouth each time, all while his muscles started to cramp from the lack of oxygen and the intensity of his peril. More bubbles started to come out of Shadow, but the volume of it started to get reduced, as every last reserve of air came out of his lungs and ran empty, up until his lungs couldn't take the pain anymore and reflexively drew in a breath.

As Shadow instinctively breathed inwards, he briefly felt the pain inside of him diminish, but only for a moment, as he immediately coughed out the water from his body. Shadow drew in another breath, and soon his lungs became even more painful than it did without the presence of air. His lungs were inhaling water, and as Shadow drew in another breath his hands went over to his throat, doing anything he could to stop the liquid from entering his body. Shadow choked and gasped as more water rushed down his windpipe, causing unthinkable amounts of agony, piercing through his body as his heartrate jumped up to unfathomable heights. "No… not here," gasped Shadow, as he took in another painful gulp of water, coughing out any remaining air in his body as the water paralyzed Shadow, causing his strokes to halt as his body focused only on forcing out as much water as possible.

Shadow's lungs desperately begged not to receive any more water, but as his throat reflexively opened up and swallowed more and more water, Shadow's face started to tint blue as the water increasingly filled up his lungs. "Can't… breathe…" gasped Shadow, as his movements started to weaken, as the excruciating pain inside his lungs crippled his movements, pulling Shadow deeper into the water that was now killing him.

Asphyxiated and exhausted, Shadow was now breathing in and out water on a regular basis, though this was causing more and more convulsions, his body rejecting every breath of water. Shadow's heart started to weaken while his lungs were at the point of bursting, waterlogged towards every inch as Shadow sunk deeper into the reservoir. Shadow weakly raised one hand towards the surface, vainly trying to reach out towards the surface even as he was drifting further and further away from it, while his other hand remained wrapped around his throat, doing whatever it could to stop any more water from entering. But as Shadow kept breathing water in and out of his body, his own vision started to fade as he could feel the frigid waters chilling his spine, all while hearing nothing but the sounds of the water circling around him, deafening any calls for help.

Shadow quietly pleaded with himself for the pain of inhaling the water to stop, as every one of his muscles started to fade. _"Will this ever end?" _thought Shadow, barely able to lightly paddle his arms. Soon, Shadow gently closed his eyes, slowly breathing in the water around him as he drifted off towards unconsciousness, with his heart coming to a standstill.

A moment later, Shadow opened his eyes and could barely see some light shine down around him; he could barely decipher anything around him, hearing nothing, not even the water he was in. His lungs started to contract as he felt something pump his chest up and down, causing him to breathe in quickly, feeling his nerves kick in once more. Shadow took a deep breath in, and as the water started to come down his windpipe, his body immediately coughed it back out, lurching his head forward as the water ran down his face.

"Yes, Shadow!" shouted an unfamiliar woman beside him. "Keep going!"

The woman rolled over Shadow towards his side as Shadow coughed and gasped more and more frequently, coughing up more water as he continued to hack away, while his lungs were clearing out all the water that had entered in. Shadow continued on for another couple of minutes, drawing in quick breaths in between his coughing fits.

Eventually, Shadow ran out of water to cough up, and started to draw in deep breaths of much needed air, replenishing his lungs properly as the last of the standing water left his body. Shadow rolled towards his back as he weakly but graciously breathed in more air, barely able to focus his eyes while his vision was blurry but recovering from before. He looked up and started to see a female bat nervously staring at him while he breathed heavily in and out, completely exhausted from his coughing fits.

"It's alright, Shadow," said the bat. "You're ok now."

Shadow squinted his eyes as he tried his best to see exactly who it was in front of him. "You… saved me…" he gasped.

"Yes, I did," replied the bat, who was now starting to smile warmly in relief. She gently placed her hand onto his face, which was turning back to its naturally black colour, while Shadow kept breathing heavily in and out, taking in more air each time. "It's been too long since I last saw you, Shadow. I'm just glad that I was able to help you out when you needed it most."

Shadow kept squinting at the bat, unable to focus his eyes properly. "You… know me?"

"Of course," replied the bat. "I was with you when we were onboard the Ark, with you and Sonic when we saved the world. You remember that much, right?"

Shadow closed his eyes and lied down on the hard platform, thinking as hard as he could to figure out who the bat was in front of him. He could vividly recall being onboard the Ark while in space, looking down onto the Earth as he awaited his next plans. He recalled being near a central computer, able to house all seven Chaos Emeralds. Inside the central computer room was the same female bat, the same one who rescued him out of the water a few moments ago.

"You were with me… on the Ark?" asked Shadow, out of breath.

"Yes," replied the bat. "I was with you working with Eggman, and then we worked together to save the Ark from plunging into the Earth." The bat looked around the area, making sure there weren't any enemies nearby. "Where have you been the last six years, Shadow? I thought you were dead all these years."

Shadow didn't reply to her question, instead getting up off the ground as he slowly made his way to his feet. He hesitated as he sat up, still feeling out of breath. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a yellow fox running furiously towards him in a fit of rage.

"Look what you've done!" shouted Miles, burning red with anger. "You knew that your blood would cause Sonic to act up like this, and you still put it in him anyway!"

Still in a daze, Shadow wobbled to his feet and stumbled towards Miles, standing face to face. "What gives you the authority to say that my blood is different from another?"

"You were created with synthetic blood, weren't you?" scowled Miles. "You weren't created naturally like the rest of us; you were made by scientists and engineers! And when you mix synthetic blood with real blood, horrible things start to happen! Just like what's happened to Sonic! I saw him as he was leaving the Hydrocity, and I could tell he was completely possessed by your blood!"

"I saved his life, dammit!" shouted Shadow, becoming increasingly angry. "If it weren't for me, you would have buried him by now."

"At least he wouldn't have been wreaking havoc across Mobius," replied Miles, turning away from Shadow. "He's already dealt enough damage to the Hydrocity, knocking down anyone and anything in his path. Now he's got three emeralds in his possession, and if he gets any more, he's only going to get more reckless with the power he's got! If he manages to get all seven Chaos Emeralds, I don't know what's going to happen to him. His Super Sonic form is already unstable enough as is; but with your blood inside of him, all hell will break loose."

"How the hell was I supposed to know he was going to turn insane from my blood?" yelled Shadow exasperatingly, getting up to Miles' breath. "I was only trying to save his life! And this is how you thank me in return? Get the hell out of here, you two-tailed freak!"

Without saying a word, Miles turned away from Shadow and left in a huff, stomping in the opposite direction as Shadow clenched his fist, restraining himself from running back towards Miles and striking him down at any moment.

The female bat cautiously walked up to Shadow, careful not to set him off once more. "Shadow?" asked the bat.

"What?" Shadow snapped, turning towards the bat in a fit of rage. He paused for a moment, ready to bite her head off, before turning back from the bat and started to bite his lips, not saying a word to her.

The bat cautiously stepped back a foot away from Shadow, as Shadow stood completely still as he kept to himself, still simmering in rage. "…What happened to Sonic?" asked the bat hesitantly. "I didn't know he was hurt at all."

Shadow stared down towards the ground, shaking his head. "I… I didn't mean to snap like that. It's just that I gave my own blood to _save_ him, and now he's going around grabbing all the emeralds for himself and destroying everything in his path. Something's not quite right about all this… I don't understand what happened to Sonic."

"I wouldn't worry about that for now," replied the bat. "But if Sonic really is getting all the Chaos Emeralds, then it would be best to search for the remaining ones before he finds them."

"Good idea," said Shadow, turning his head slightly towards the female bat. He looked briefly at the bat, before turning back towards the ground, hanging his head in shame. "I'm sorry, it's just that I've been through a lot in the past few days. I must have travelled forward in time since I left the Ark, and I have no idea how I got here. And I don't remember a damn thing from the past."

The female bat looked on in despair, moving closer as Shadow's muscles started to release tension, as Shadow started to revert to his usual brooding self. She didn't say anything, still keeping her distance as she nervously stepped closer to Shadow.

"What did you say your name was?" asked Shadow.

"Rouge," replied the bat.

Shadow quietly nodded in reply, noting the name inside his mind. "Rouge… we should go and find another Chaos Emerald. Did you have any idea where another one might be? That stupid fox isn't going to be any help anymore."

"In all honesty," said Rouge, "I was looking for the emerald that was located in here. But if you said that Sonic already had it, then there's no point in being here anymore… last time I checked, there was one in the Ice Caps, not far from here."

"Sounds like a plan, Rouge," replied Shadow, making sure he still had his green emerald in his possession. "If we're going to beat that damn blue hedgehog, we need to get there, urgently."


	7. Chapter 7

In the frosty air of the mountainside, Rouge scanned carefully on her communicator, gazing on the map of the area. "It seems that everything is where it was from the last time I was here, except for one thing."

"What's that?" asked Shadow, brushing snow off his shoes.

"There's a new base deep into the ice caverns," explained Rouge, showing Shadow her communicator. "There's a whole lot of activity in the area, and it's not anything from any of the natural beings in there. It all appears to be man-made."

"I doubt Sonic would have the means to build something like this in a short amount of time," sighed Shadow. "This has to be the work of the Doctor."

Rouge quietly put away her communicator, shivering from the breeze blowing in as she noticed Shadow was calmly standing still, not at all affected by the wind chill. "You're not cold at all in this?" Rouge asked.

Shadow shrugged as the wind harshly blew against his back. "What makes you ask that? I don't feel a thing at all."

Rouge got annoyed and started walking towards the cavern. "Well, I do. We should get out of here, if only to get out of this wind."

Shadow followed Rouge closely behind as they entered the cavern. As Shadow and Rouge were walking forwards, the two slipped up on the icy surface beneath their feet, and slid downwards into a series of icy slides, sliding further and further downward until they landed in an icy tunnel, surrounded with snow on the walls and ceiling, and more ice under their feet. In front of them were round robots flying around in circles, with motors propelling them above the ground, and also providing an ample way to attack anyone nearby.

Shadow jumped up and homed in directly at the first wave of the round robots, blasting them to bits as Shadow bounced directly off the top of one robot to another. As Shadow landed back on the ground, Rouge darted beside him and drew out a pistol, shooting directly at the robots that were left remaining. Some of the bullets bounced off the rotors, but others hit the center of the robots, which caused them to fall down to the ground as bullet holes surrounded them.

"Didn't know you brought a gun," commented Shadow, glancing at the disintegrated robots in front of them.

"I only use it for emergencies," replied Rouge, catching her breath. "I don't have many bullets, but we should be fine for this mission."

Shadow nodded in reply as two more robots came towards the two, so Shadow jumped up and homed in onto the robots, sending them to pieces. Rouge followed closely behind Shadow as they ran away from the wreckage, descending further into the ice cavern. Not long after they started running deeper into the cavern, Shadow stumbled onto a block of ice impeding their path. Rouge noticed that more robots were swirling towards them, with their propellers pointing right at her, so while Shadow spun himself around to pick up speed, Rouge started firing bullets at the robots, taking two of them down before running out of bullets in the pistol's magazine. Shadow sped right through the ice block as Rouge rolled away from the oncoming robots following Shadow closely behind.

Shadow looked onwards as the ice cavern opened up in front of him, becoming larger and wider than before. "Looks like Eggman's thugs have already found us," Shadow snarled. "Does your communicator know where the emerald is exactly in here? There's too many places where the emerald could be hiding."

Rouge pulled out her communicator as she gazed along the distant confines of the large ice cavern. "I'll see if I can detect any abnormal energy readings through this. If the emerald is hidden somewhere in here, it'll flare through the ice, now that we're further into the ground." Within a moment, the communicator lit up in the direction the two were facing, situated a few feet below the ice pond they were in front of.

Shadow scowled as he gazed into the frigid waters. "Oh no… I am NOT going swimming again after what happened last time!"

"We probably won't need to," said Rouge, scanning her communicator. "There's a number of passageways hidden underneath the ice that can be navigable, but it will take time to go through them all. If the sensors are reading correctly, the emerald should be located inside the ice, perhaps right below us."

"How are we going to get below, then?" asked Shadow.

"We'll just have to go through the ice tunnels and go further and further down until we get to the emerald," sighed Rouge. "This is going to be tougher than I thought."

Shadow heard a noise coming from behind him, and turned around to find a mechanical drill whirring up towards him, charging at a slow but steady speed. Shadow jumped out of the way while Rouge flew up into the air with her wings, going much higher than the drill. Shadow spun around the drill to end up behind it, jumping on top of the drill as he attacked the base of the drill machine, homing in on it repeatedly. Shadow, however, was thrown off the machine, as it turned around sharply and activated its drill, powering straight at one of the ice walls.

Without even thinking, Shadow got back on his feet and ran to the back of the drill, jumping back onto the base. As he homed in on the base of the machine again, he felt the icy walls around him move and shake, as the machine started to drill into the wall.

Rouge, while still floating in the air, watching from afar, had to jump out of the way as an ice block fell from the ceiling around where the machine was drilling against. "The whole tunnel's going to collapse if the drill goes any further!"

Shadow was briefly tossed off the drill machine as it shook while drilling at full power, but as Shadow heard Rouge's pleas, Shadow ran towards the back of the drill and homed in on the machine from behind, taking out an electrical panel in the process. Shadow saw the electrical wiring inside the machine and ran right against it, taking the wires and pulling them out of their sockets, powering off the machine, leaving it stuck inside the ice.

"That was a close one," said Rouge, flying down back towards the ground, letting out an exhausted breath. "This has to be one of Eggman's machines, isn't it? Nobody else would be willing to send out a huge drill into the ice like this."

Shadow glared at the machine, frowning as it laid inside the ice walls. "There's no pilot inside the machine… there isn't even a cockpit for a pilot to be in. This has to be on autopilot."

Rouge brought back out her communicator as she looked back and forth between it and the drill machine, checking the ice underneath her. "You were asking about how we were going to reach the emerald without heading into the water? This thing just might take us there."

"Can you reprogram the machine to make it go wherever we want it to?" asked Shadow.

"I can make it work," said Rouge, scanning the wiring on the back of the machine. Within a moment, Rouge and Shadow heard some badniks charging in from above, descending towards the drill machine. "It'll take some time, though, and these enemies mean business!"

"Let me take care of the robots," declared Shadow, going into a stance as he got ready to leap up in the air. "Just focus on getting the machine to work, while I get rid of all these things."

Without a word, Shadow leapt up into the air, leaving Rouge back at the drill machine. Rouge turned back at the machine and immediately got to work on the electrical wiring, shaking her head at the sheer number of circuits inside the machine.

Shadow charged right at the first badnik in the air, bumping the robot with his shoulder to send it towards the ground. As he landed back on the ground, Shadow swung his leg around to take out another couple of robots charging directly at Rouge, launching the robots into the icy walls, destroying them on impact.

Shadoe turned around and saw one of the badniks had flown past him while he had taken out the robots inside the ice walls, so Shadow jumped back towards the badnik and swatted it out of the air, having it land beside where Rouge was fixing the wiring of the drill machine, startling Rouge for a moment. Shadow spun himself and charged back at the army of badniks barrelling through the group of badniks.

As he caught his breath, Shadow looked back at Rouge, seeing her still working away at the drill machine. Shadow turned back forward to face an armoured cyborg stepping towards him, standing only an inch taller than Shadow. The cyborg had a similar build to Shadow, appearing much like a hedgehog, although with a lot more metal surrounding it.

The cyborg hedgehog darted off towards Shadow, and as the two collided with each other, Shadow brushed off the cyborg with his arm, shoving him towards the side. Shadow brought out his own Chaos Emerald and charged up some energy through his muscles, charging at the cyborg at full speed. The cyborg grabbed Shadow as he went to attack him, throwing him up into the air, and as Shadow went back down towards the icy ground, the cyborg launched a mighty karate kick at Shadow, sending him flying away from Rouge and the drill machine, landing on the thick, cold ice far away.

Shadow groaned as he got back up, slowly getting back on his feet as he noticed the cyborg tread closer to Rouge, unaware of what was happening behind her. "Watch out, Rouge!" shouted Shadow instinctively.

Rouge turned her head around to see the cyborg come up close behind her, so Rouge took out her pistol and aimed it at the cyborg, only for the cyborg to swipe it away from her hands, knocking it outward as it slid along the ice. Rouge punched the cyborg square in the chest, grimacing in pain as the steel exterior of the cyborg stopped her attack dead in its tracks.

Shadow ran up closer to where the drill machine was, as the cyborg grabbed Rouge by the neck, choking her as she struggled to break free from the cyborg's grasp. Shadow sped up as fast as he could, spinning directly at the cyborg as he knocked it down, freeing Rouge from the chokehold as the cyborg fell to the ground, quickly getting back on its feet. Shadow darted back towards the cyborg as soon as he landed back on the ground, continuing his spin as he swung around to hit the cyborg again, this time with much more force than the first time.

Both Shadow and the cyborg got back up within the same time as each other, and as Rouge dived out of the area nearby, Shadow and the cyborg ran towards each other and collided with one another, quickly trading blows with each other. While cuts and bruises started to form over Shadow's face, the cyborg's tough exterior barely had any dents in it, retaining its strength throughout the battle. The cyborg eventually struck Shadow directly across the face, splattering blood onto the ice. Shadow clenched his Chaos Emerald with his fist as he charged back at the cyborg, knocking the cyborg off its feet, directly away from the drill machine, near which Rouge had taken cover from the melee.

Shadow wiped off some blood out of his mouth as he found Rouge heading back towards the electrical panel of the drill machine. "You're doing ok?" asked Shadow.

"I'm alright now," replied Rouge, as sweat poured from her face, quickly cooling off from the chilly air. "I should be able to get the machine up and running shortly – look behind you!"

Shadow instantly turned around to see the cyborg jump and tackle him down, pushing him towards the ice as the two slid uncontrollably while grappling with each other. The two slid dangerously close to a ledge that dipped into an ice pond a couple of feet below. Shadow stopped sliding shortly before he reached the tip of the ledge, but was still in the grasp of the cyborg directly on top of him.

The cyborg swung his arm and threw it downward, aiming it at Shadow's head, but Shadow ducked his head away in time as the arm crashed into the ice, burying it deep inside as the arm missed Shadow's head by mere inches. As the cyborg struggled to get its arm out of the ice, Shadow crawled back up to his feet as the ledge leading to the ice pond lay directly behind him, without an inch to spare before he dropped down into the icy waters below. The cyborg swung its free arm at Shadow, grazing past his chest as Shadow briefly lost his balance on the ledge, catching himself before he fell. Shadow jumped into the air and landed on the other side of the cyborg, drawing up more energy from the Chaos Emerald.

Seeing Shadow behind itself, the cyborg wrestled the arm stuck in the ice free from where it was, causing multiple cracks to form in the ice from the sheer strength of the cyborg as it sprinted towards Shadow. Shadow blocked every move that the cyborg attacked at him, but as the cyborg's feet pounded the ice below, more cracks started to form in the ice, as the platform started to become more and more unstable. As the two kept battling each other, the ice started to chip off and break away, causing Shadow to slide downwards into the pond, colliding with the cyborg as it also slid down with Shadow.

As soon as Shadow splashed into the icy water, Shadow's heart jumped from the sudden shock of the frigid waters, chilling him from head to toe. As he thrashed around in the water, the cyborg leapt up towards Shadow, striking him in the shoulder as the two briefly dipped underwater before Shadow got himself above the surface, gasping for air. He managed to keep himself afloat from thrashing his arms erratically, leaving him hyperventilating and short of breath.

Shadow grew in fear and rage as he violently threw himself at the cyborg creeping closer to him, doing no better than Shadow at staying afloat. The cyborg bashed his arm against Shadow's body, leaning it over Shadow as the weight of the cyborg brought Shadow below the surface. Shadow held his breath as strongly as he could, nearly bursting his lungs as he pushed off the cyborg to get himself enough momentum to break through to the surface again. He tried to make his way towards the ledge, but had his feet held back by the cyborg, grabbing onto his legs with a strong vice-like grip.

Shadow then felt a small jolt go through his legs, as the cyborg started to slow down and grow weaker and weaker, slowly sinking beneath the waters. The lights that lit up the cyborg started to dim and fade, but the grip on Shadow's legs weren't decreasing, as Shadow and the cyborg sunk into the water.

Before Shadow had a chance to catch his breath, Shadow sunk beneath the surface as the cyborg was holding him down, dragging him deeper into the water. Shadow wrestled as much as he could to break free from the grasp of the now disabled cyborg, but found no luck as the water started to chill him straight into the spine. Gritting his teeth as his air started to trickle out, Shadow grasped the Chaos Emerald in his hand as much as he could, while his heart pounded intensely. Letting go of any air he had remaining, Shadow cried out as much as he could muffled under the deep waters, "Chaos Control!"

In a flash of bright light, Shadow transported himself and the cyborg above the waters and higher up into the mountains, falling down inside a cold room hidden deep in the mountains of the ice cap. Shadow coughed and gasped for air, slowly wrestling away from the cyborg as he squirmed free from the cyborg's grasp. "Damn you, you stupid computer!" grunted Shadow, kicking away the cyborg as he got his legs free from the cyborg's arms.

"That's not very nice to treat my invention like that," growled Doctor Eggman, looking down at Shadow as he crossed his arms in a huff. "I was kind enough to let you borrow this thing, and you return it having broken it? I thought you were better than that, Shadow."

Shadow glared at Doctor Eggman, still catching his breath from before. "You're behind all this? Damn you, Doctor…"

"I should thank you," chuckled Eggman, holding a light blue Chaos Emerald in his hand. "As soon as you and your friend had that little dip in the pool, I was able to get Rouge to lead me straight into the location of the Chaos Emerald I was looking for. Now if you'll excuse me, I have business to attend to." Doctor Eggman pointed his hand in all kinds of directions, turning towards the robotic guards. "Get this hedgehog out of here before he starts to cause any more damage than he's already done," ordered Eggman.

As two of the robotic guards closed in on Shadow, Shadow quickly got back on his feet and pushed away the guards violently, using the energy of the Chaos Emerald to send them flying towards the walls of the base. He darted towards the exit that Eggman ducked out of, but the door slammed shut behind him, just as Shadow got to it.

Rouge ran up behind Shadow, out of breath and in a panic. "I'm so sorry, Shadow! I got the machine up and running, and before you know it, Eggman's goons showed up and grabbed my communicator and –"

"Never mind that," interrupted Shadow. "We got to get to Eggman before he gets out of here with that emerald! He went through this door, stand back."

Rouge obliged and took a few steps back, as Shadow drew up more energy from his Chaos Emerald, letting the energy soak inside his body for a few seconds until he blasted through the door with his own body, blowing it to pieces. Rouge ran behind Shadow as the two went through the hallways of the base, leading up to a command room with a grand view of the Ice Caps and the mountains surrounding them. They didn't get very far into the room when Eggman appeared in front of them, looking as stern as usual.

"I thought you would have been taken care of by now," grunted Eggman. "No matter. I'll take care of you two by myself." Doctor Eggman took out a remote and pushed one of the buttons on it, and before Rouge and Shadow could react, the floor underneath them gave out and fell into a pit, putting the two into a slide that tumbled them around in every direction possible before shooting them out of the base and back into the snow.

Shadow groaned as he got up to his feet, shaking his head as he stared up towards the base. "Damn… how are we going to get back up there?"

Before Rouge could reply, part of the mountain where Eggman's base was embedded in popped out, with a laser pointing out of the indent that appeared from the mountain. The laser charged up for a second before sending a shot to the top of another mountain directly across from Eggman's base, sending an avalanche of snow tumbling down directly towards Shadow and Rouge.

"What the hell?" shouted Rouge, flapping her wings to lift herself off the ground. "He couldn't do this to us… could he?"

Rouge grabbed Shadow's arms and pulled him off the ground as the snow barrelled down towards them, but the snow reached up high enough to knock down Rouge before she could fully fly above the wave of snow, knocking the two back down towards the ground. As the snow enveloped the two, Shadow was being spun around by the avalanche uncontrollably, unable to stop his movements or even figure out where he was being tossed to. Shadow got extremely noxious as he was thrown around by the snow, up until he hit a hill of thick snow, stopping him in his tracks as the snow started to bury him deep, which only raised up his anxiety as the world seemed to close in around him.

As the snow crawled to a halt and started to settle around him, Shadow hazily tried to move around in the snow, but found it very difficult as the thick snow prevented any quick movement. Shadow felt the pressure of the snow laying on top of him, as his body was compressed and squeezed in a way that made it difficult to breathe properly. Shadow slowly brought up his hand towards his mouth and carved out a small air pocket for him to breathe in and out of, as he started to make his way up towards the surface.

Just then, he felt something hitting his shoulders, and stopped digging as he waited to see what was poking at him. Soon enough, Rouge appeared out of the snow to Shadow's side, opening up more space for both of them.

"Shadow," said Rouge quietly, shaken up by the avalanche. "We… found each other… somehow…"

Shadow didn't respond, as he resumed digging upwards, growing more and more panicked as his breathing started to accelerate, while the snow started to settle into his body, chilling him to the bone. Shadow kept pounding away at the snow, but was making little progress, barely chipping away at the thickening snow. Shadow continued until he struck the snow with enough velocity that a jolt of pain accelerated through his arm, travelling down towards his body, as Shadow groaned in pain.

"Dammit!" cried out Shadow, shaking his arm. "Why did Eggman have to take that fucking Chaos Emerald? We could have warped out of here by now with it!"

Rouge looked over to Shadow, becoming increasingly worried. "Can't you warp out of here with the emerald you have?"

"I would have," Shadow snarled, "had I not used the Chaos Control fighting that cyborg earlier. If we were in sunlight, I could let it charge back up again, but not in here, in the snow… all alone…"

Shadow clenched his fist, simmering in anger as he tensed up all his muscles, replaying the moments of the recent past in his mind. Suddenly, Shadow belted out a roar of rage, smashing his hands against the snow walls, growing more enraged by the second. "Dammit! Everything's my fault! Why did I have to cause so much pain to everyone? I'm too careless, dammit! Why did I have to make a mess of everything?"

Rouge stared at Shadow, afraid to speak at all, crawling as far back as she could in the tight confines of the snow. Shadow kept punching the wall in pure anger, as Rouge hopelessly watched him simmer from the inside out. Soon after, Rouge heard nothing at all from Shadow, leaving her in silence.

She carefully looked over to Shadow, finding him weeping profusely to himself, sobbing quietly in the snow. Rouge remained speechless as Shadow wept by himself, completely beside himself. "It's all my fault," Shadow said to himself, leaning onto his arm. "It's all my fault…"

Rouge softly laid her arm on Shadow's shoulder, not saying a word back as Shadow kept his head buried in the snow, not moving an inch. She was completely astounded with Shadow's display of emotions, something she had never seen in the time the two were together. All that Rouge could think about in that moment with Shadow was how she was going to explain his emotional outburst to everyone, including herself. "_There's no way anybody's going to believe this," _she thought to herself, still keeping a warm hand onto Shadow's shoulder.

* * *

Doctor Eggman looked onward into the distance of the Ice Caps, grinning in glee as the snow settled down in the mountainside. "Finally, the stupid bat and hedgehog are out of my sight. There won't be any more furry creatures coming after me anymore," he laughed, holding the light blue Chaos Emerald in his hand. "I just need a few more Chaos Emeralds to make the new superweapon capable of taking down anything in its path, but just the one will do for now. That was a brilliant test, firing it on the mountains. It took care of two things at once."

Eggman got out of his throne chair and went over towards the main computers, directly in front of the windows surrounding the command room in the base. "Is everything going on as planned?" commanded Eggman into the intercom.

"All systems are go," boomed a robotic voice on the intercom.

"Excellent," smiled Eggman, hovering over the computers. "Nothing can stand in our way now. There's no more hedgehogs to impede our progress now."

"I don't know about _that_," interrupted Sonic, hovering down from the air onto the floor of the computer room.

Eggman turned around sharply and froze at the sight of the dark blue hedgehog. "What the… how the hell are you still alive?"

Sonic ignored Doctor Eggman, as the hedgehog started emanating an aura of energy, quickly intensifying as he brought his Chaos Emeralds into view. Suddenly, Sonic charged right at Eggman, knocking him off his feet and into the computers. Eggman slowly got back up from the ground as Sonic walked steadily towards him.

"So, Egghead," mocked Sonic, "You really think you got rid of me? You're sorely mistaken!"

Doctor Eggman barely got back onto his feet when Sonic bashed Eggman back down towards the ground with his arm. Eggman reached for one of the cabinets nearby where he been thrown down and brought out a gun, shooting it directly at Sonic. Sonic, though, swatted the bullet out of the air, not even being hurt a scratch. Eggman shot the gun a few more times, but Sonic also swatted the bullets out of the way. Out of bullets, Eggman clicked the gun a number of times, throwing away the gun in disgust as Sonic stepped closer to Eggman, while Eggman was backing into a corner of the room.

As Doctor Eggman hit the wall behind him, Sonic's wry smile turned cold, as more energy from the Chaos Emeralds emanated from him. "I should have known what your intentions were from the start, Egghead! After all this time, you've caused me more than enough trouble! Now you will pay for what you've done to me!"

Sonic grabbed Eggman by the collar of his jacket and threw him against one of the windows, creating a crack in it. Sonic ran up to where he threw Eggman and grabbed him again, crashing him against the same window a few more times. As cracks appeared all over the window, Sonic smashed the window open and tossed Eggman back down onto the floor, letting a large draft enter the room. Sonic went over to Eggman and grabbed his light blue Chaos Emerald out of his jacket, grinning manically as he cackled heartily throughout the room, shuddering Eggman deep down alongside the chilling wind.

"Damn you, Sonic," cursed Eggman, lying on his back while out of breath. "You've got your emerald, now go away."

Sonic's smile turned back into a scowl as he took his glowing eyes off from the emerald and glared back at Eggman. "Oh, I'm not done with you yet," he barked, putting away his Chaos Emeralds as he charged back at Eggman. Sonic pinned Eggman onto the wall, as he grabbed Eggman by the throat, choking him as Eggman gasped for air.

"Put me down, you bastard," gasped Eggman, staring into Sonic's spiralling eyes.

Sonic grimaced as he increased his grip onto Eggman's throat. "You want to be put down, Egghead?" Sonic brought Eggman over to the open window and hung him outside, with nothing but a thirty foot drop to the ground below. Eggman gasped as much as he could, protesting Sonic's every move as he dangled in front of the window. After leaving Eggman open for a couple of moments, Sonic let go of Eggman's neck, dropping him down far below, as he screamed at the top of his lungs, disappearing into the distance. Eventually his screams dimmed down to pure silence, and Sonic grinned mightily as he looked out into the Ice Caps. Sonic then burst into laughter, his cackling echoing through the mountains all around him.

Down thirty feet below, a figure hiking in the area lifted the hood of his thick coat, and Knuckles widened his eyes as he overheard the cackling. "That can't be a good sign..." Knuckles said to himself, shaking his head. As the wind picked up behind him, Knuckles put back on his hood and trampled onward, as he shivered inside his thick jacket.

The wind blew the snow around so much that Knuckles could barely see a few feet past him, and it was even getting into his eyes, forcing him to block the snow with his hand, reducing any visibility that was in front of him. Even with the wind blowing, Knuckles could hear a low beeping beneath his feet, startling Knuckles as he stopped stepping in the snow, listening for the beeping sound. "Is there someone in the snow?" asked Knuckles. "The avalanche stopped a few minutes ago. If there's someone here, they're probably still alive…"

Knuckles searched the nearby area, keeping track of the sound ringing in the mountains as he scanned the snow for any clues to give him an idea on where it was originating from. On the ground, he found a glove with a pink band around the edge, catching Knuckles' eyes as he picked up the glove. "There's somebody here for sure! They couldn't have gone far." The beeping was now coming from underneath his feet, and Knuckles started digging downwards, using his spikes on his hands to dig through the thick snow. Soon afterward, he found the other glove with the same pink band around the edge deep into the snow. "I'm getting closer now, I can feel it!" Knuckles shouted, frantically digging through.

Soon after, Knuckles dug through the snow enough to uncover a large air pocket, as Knuckles dug through the pocket and nearly fell into the hole that resulted. Knuckles was about to get his hand out of the hole when his hand was grabbed by someone, whose hands were ice cold and almost frozen over. Knuckles jumped and nearly drew back his hand, but looked down into the air pocket, searching for the people trapped inside, as the beeping sound was now clearer than ever.

Rouge looked up through the hole in the snow to see Knuckles, breathing sighs of relief as fresh air started to pour into the air pocket. Rouge smiled, shivering as she moved towards Shadow. "I knew somebody would find us," Rouge weakly grinned. "I don't know how to thank you, Knuckles."

As Rouge and Shadow both got to the surface with Knuckles' help, Knuckles gave his jacket to Rouge, but Rouge brushed it aside. "Give it to Shadow," insisted Rouge. "He's in worse shape than I am."

Shadow glared back at Rouge, clearly still shivering as the wind started to pick back up to speed again. "I'm ok. You keep it."

Knuckles sighed, covering his head from the blowing snow as the three started to walk down the mountain. "Well, decide between yourselves, then. We need to get to shelter as fast as possible before the sun goes down. The cabin's not far from here."

"What brought you over to the mountains, Knuckles?" asked Rouge.

"I've been looking for Sonic the past few days," replied Knuckles. "I was consulting the Master Emerald to see where he went. It told me that he was around here in the Ice Caps."

Rouge shook her head in confusion from the explanation, but ignored it as she looked over towards Shadow. Shadow was back to his normal unemotional self, not letting the blowing snow affect him at all. Rouge wanted to speak to Shadow, but felt uncomfortable doing so, not wanting to get him upset again, especially in front of Knuckles.

Knuckles was walking ahead of Rouge and Shadow, guiding the two back to the cabin, as Shadow got close to where Rouge was, being out of earshot of Knuckles. He kept walking forward with Rouge as he spoke quietly to Rouge. "Nobody saw what happened there," he stated.

"Saw what?" asked Rouge.

"What happened just now," replied Shadow, pointing down towards the snow.

Rouge quietly nodded, giving a weak smile. "It's ok, Shadow. I understand."

Shadow didn't know how to respond to this, so he kept walking forward with Rouge as they headed down the mountain. Soon enough, the wind started to die down, making the pathway clearer to see. Shadow looked up to see Eggman's base high up in the mountains, up directly thirty feet above them. Shadow shook his head, not wanting to think about his confrontation with the Doctor anymore.

"We're near the exit of the Ice Caps now," Knuckles said. "The cabin's just a short distance away."

"Thank goodness," sighed Rouge. "I can't wait to get out of this -" she looked back up, terrified at what she saw in front of her. She covered her mouth in shock, not saying a word as her face turned pale.

"What happened?" asked Knuckles, looking towards Rouge, before looking back forward, seeing what Rouge was staring at. "My god… I don't believe this…"

Shadow sternly walked up to a few spikes laid out in the snow, as blood was covered around the surrounding area, dripping down from the spikes. Doctor Eggman laid there motionless in the spikes, as it protruded through his chest, his hands dangling in the air, while his face started to get covered in ice and snow.

"Who could have done this?" asked Knuckles, shaking his head. "I never liked him, but I never wanted him dead!"

Shadow reached into the pockets of Eggman's blood stained jacket, frantically searching up and down but finding no luck in finding anything inside. "This has to be Sonic's doing," said Shadow. "Nobody else was here besides ourselves, and he was the one that threw us in the snow." Shadow looked up towards the base, barely able to make it out of the setting sky. "Sonic's the only one that could have been strong enough to throw him off that mountain in the first place."

"Then Sonic was here," sighed Knuckles, grimly walking towards Shadow. "If everything Miles told me is true, Sonic is becoming more and more possessed by whatever happened in the past few days."

Shadow grabbed Knuckles by the chest, bringing their faces close together as Shadow snapped instantaneously. "Are you blaming me for this, too?" he shouted, shaking Knuckles.

Rouge ran between Knuckles and Shadow, forcing Shadow apart from Knuckles. "Please! He didn't accuse you of anything!"

Shadow glared back at Knuckles as Rouge gently pushed Shadow away from Knuckles. He didn't say a word back, biting his lips as he turned to face Rouge.

"The emerald isn't there anymore," said Shadow to Rouge. "The Doctor had it when we were buried, and now it's gone."

"What do you mean, gone?" asked Rouge, shivering as the sunlight started to wane.

"It's not there anymore," groaned Shadow, shaking his head in shame. "We have to find as many emeralds as we can before Sonic finds them all. I have to stop Sonic from destroying everything, Rouge, so that I can make things right with everybody again. I started this whole mess, Rouge, and I'm the only one that can fix it." He stared directly at Rouge, breathing heavily in and out. "Where can we find another emerald, Rouge? One that Sonic can't get a hold of easily?"

Knuckles calmly walked towards Shadow, quietly taking a deep breath. "Look, Shadow, there's nothing you could have done -"

"You stay out of this!" snapped Shadow, swiping his hand across Knuckles, forcing Knuckles to take a few steps back. Shadow turned back to Rouge, staring directly into her eyes, silently demanding an answer.

"There's an emerald inside Sandopolis," said Rouge nervously, looking away from Shadow. "If you want me to help you, Shadow… you have to promise me you won't turn this into a personal vendetta of yours."

"Rouge," insisted Shadow, "if Sonic gets a hold of all the Chaos Emeralds, the whole world could be at stake. We can't let him keep destroying everything. If even the Doctor can't survive his wrath, what hope do we have in the future?" Shadow turned towards Knuckles, as his breathing started to return to a normal pace. "We have to go now," stated Shadow.

"What?" Knuckles shouted. "But you're not going to rest after the avalanche?"

"There's no time to waste," demanded Shadow. "If we don't find those emeralds, Sonic will."


	8. Chapter 8

The sweltering heat did nothing to temper Rouge's motivation to chase down the next Chaos Emerald, but Shadow was up to his normal, brooding self. Even as the view of the Pyramids of Sandopolis came closer to each other while they were flying on Rouge's plane, Shadow's face remained unchanged, barely blinking every now and then.

Rouge glanced over to Shadow behind her, staring blankly ahead of them in the distance. "What are you thinking about, Shadow?"

Shadow didn't reply, closing his eyes as he sat back on his seat on the plane. He let the wind blow into his face, rushing through and bouncing off his body, not affecting him at all in the slightest.

Rouge sighed as she turned back to face forward in the cockpit. "You've been quiet since we left the Ice Caps," she said to Shadow over the hums of the plane's engines. "Don't worry too much about what happened back there, Shadow. These things happen to the best of us. You just have to accept them sometimes."

Shadow kept his eyes closed as he shook his head, crossing his arms. "That wasn't what was on my mind, but… sure."

Rouge scratched her head briefly before returning her hand to the controls of the plane, taking a deep breath. "Well, if you weren't thinking about that, what _were_ you thinking about, then?"

"Why should you care?" asked Shadow in reply.

Rouge paused, not entirely prepared for that question to enter her mind. She thought silently for a moment, thinking carefully about what to say back to Shadow. "I'm just worried about you, Shadow, after what happened back there… I've never seen you like that before."

Shadow remained unchanged, still keeping his arms crossed. "Don't worry about me. I'm fine."

Rouge glanced back at Shadow, keeping her hands on the controls as she shifted her eyes back and forth between Shadow behind her and the horizon in front of her. "You don't need to hide your feelings from me, Shadow. Your secrets are safe with me."

Shadow slowly opened up his eyes, letting the hums of the plane engines obscure his thoughts. "I'm just focused on getting the Chaos Emerald as soon as possible, to defeat Sonic before he takes over the whole world. That's what I'm focused on, and nothing else."

Just then, Rouge noticed the pyramids coming into full view in front of the plane, so Rouge turned on her communicator, glancing back and forth between it and the view ahead of her, making sure the plane was headed on the right path. "Looks like we're not quite where the Chaos Emerald is located," stated Rouge. "It seems to be buried deep down inside the caves."

"But which ones?" asked Shadow, as he looked downwards, scanning the pyramids. "Even if we pick the right one, we still have to go through the maze that will surely follow. I have a feeling there's more than what we can see in there…"

Rouge started to swing the plane around towards a flat area not far from the largest pyramid in the area, bringing the plane down towards the ground. "Well, the only way we'll find out is to go inside!" Rouge managed to land the plane squarely into the hard sand below, but as the wheels of the plane started to slow down, the plane ground to a sudden halt, lurching both Rouge and Shadow forward in their seats. Rouge looked down on the ground and noticed that the plane was starting to sink inside the sand, first enveloping the wheels and then the body of the plane itself.

Without saying a word, Rouge jumped out of the plane and glided towards the nearest pillar nearby, grabbing onto the pillar as she kept herself off the sand. Shadow jumped up from the plane and jumped constantly on the sand, eventually making his way towards a platform far away from the quicksand, as the plane was now more than halfway into the ground, far beyond any means of bringing it back up from the sand.

"Great," growled Rouge, shaking her head. "Now we'll have to get out of here by foot. As if we didn't have enough trouble getting in here in the first place."

Shadow ignored the plane sinking down into the sand as he noticed robotic creatures surrounding him, so Shadow jumped off the platform he was on and homed in on the robots, landing close to the pillar where Rouge was grabbing onto. From there, the two went forward and Shadow jumped from the sand to a large rock, and Rouge glided towards the same rock, as the two stood side by side.

"How far are we from the entrance to the pyramid?" asked Shadow, shaking off sand from his shoes.

"We're within a short distance in normal circumstances," replied Rouge, looking around as she wiped off sweat from her forehead. "But with the amount of quicksand around us, there's no telling how long it's going to take us to get to the pyramid."

Shadow tensed up his muscles as he noticed in front of him as more robots started to descend towards the rock the two were standing on, and Shadow leapt up and bashed down the robots into the sand, as Shadow landed back on the rock.

Shortly after checking for any more robots around the area, Rouge took out her communicator and glanced at the map of the area, pinpointing where they had landed in the pyramid complex. "As long as we can avoid quicksand along the way, we should be able to get to the entrance of the pyramid in front of us very easily. There's some platforms that we can jump onto as we get there to help us along the way."

"That's easy for you," said Shadow, brushing off more sand from his body. "You can glide all over the place. But how am I going to jump across the quicksand?"

"You still have the one Chaos Emerald with you, right?" asked Rouge. "Maybe you can use that to help you along."

Shadow shook his head, biting his lips. "As much as I'd like to, Rouge, I can't use the emerald too much at once. Somehow I get the feeling that I'll be using it later. With all these robots trying to take us down, there's sure to be more inside. I'd rather save up the energy when the emerald is in our sights."

Rouge nodded as she put away her communicator, looking forward at the pyramid in the distance. "I'm sure you can use it a couple of times, Shadow. Don't let that one incident distract you, Shadow! Just use all the strength you have to get us there!"

Shadow thought to himself for a moment as he brought out his green Chaos Emerald, staring at it very carefully. "Maybe you can use it," he offered, holding out the emerald towards Rouge.

"Me?" Rouge's eyes widened as she saw her reflection on the emerald.

"Sure," replied Shadow, looking straight into Rouge's eyes. "If you use it, and we both hold onto the emerald, then we'll both transport together."

Rouge smiled in satisfaction. "Why didn't I think of that earlier? Good plan, Shadow!" She held the emerald with Shadow, but Shadow interrupted Rouge before she could say anything more.

"But you have to be careful with the emerald," warned Shadow, showing a stern face. "You have to use every last thought toward where you want to go, giving every last ounce of energy to the emerald. Otherwise, it doesn't work. You won't move an inch and end up exactly where you are."

Rouge took a deep breath and held the emerald firmly in her hand, as Shadow kept his hand on the emerald as well, holding it together with Rouge. As Rouge started to draw up energy from the Chaos Emerald, Shadow started absorbing some of the energy as well, and soon started to draw up more energy of his own, up until Rouge and Shadow blasted from the ground at the same time, darting from where they stood towards the entrance of the pyramid, flying over the quicksand and landing close to the pyramid, landing through a pile of sand as it scattered in every direction.

Rouge got up from the sandy ground, dusting off the sand from her body as Shadow stood beside Rouge, holding the emerald in his hand. Rouge looked towards Shadow as he started blankly ahead at the pyramid in front of them. "Looks like it worked," said Rouge, catching her breath.

Shadow stood still for a moment, listening to the wind howling in the background. "It's as if nothing is nearby. Why does it feel so empty in here? I thought there were more robots than the ones we saw before."

Rouge looked around her and also noticed that there was nothing but the wind around them, completely empty of anything else. "You're right, Shadow, that is really strange. Obviously Eggman left a few robots to guard this place, but surely there's more than what we saw back there…" Rouge shrugged as she started making her way inside the pyramid, with Shadow walking beside her.

As they went inside the pyramid and walked down into the caverns, most of the light coming from outside started to fade, so Rouge brought out her communicator and put on a light to guide the two, lighting up the area directly around them, but not more than a couple of feet. On the walls were hieroglyphs, depicting events of the ancient times, telling stories about legends living long ago. Shadow passed over the hieroglyphs without much thought, but Rouge was engrossed by the pictures, admiring them as she walked along.

"I kinda wish I understood all this," said Rouge, staring blankly at the hieroglyphs. "It's mesmerizing how the ancient peoples saw life back then."

Shadow glanced over to the wall with the hieroglyphs, looking only out of curiosity for Rouge's sake. On the hieroglyphs, he could see the pictures depicting the ancient peoples worshipping a god surrounded by seven jewels of many colours, as the god watched over the city of pyramids, spanning all across the wall. Further down, the city of pyramids was depicted being completely destroyed by a meteor shower, engulfing the city in flames.

"The pictures are starting to get creepy," said Rouge, staring in awe at the hieroglyphs' detail. "Must be some kind of religious prophecy or something."

As Rouge shone the light on her communicator deeper down the cave, she noticed that the light was growing less and less effective, going a shorter distance from them as the two walked further down inside the pyramid. All at once, as Rouge was checking her communicator, the light on the communicator flickered out, leaving Rouge and Shadow in darkness as a howling laughter echoed in the caves. Rouge turned and searched everywhere around her, desperate to find Shadow in the darkness, but not finding him at all in the panic.

Shadow frantically searched around him as he could not see further than an inch in front of him, blanketed in darkness. "What happened? Where are you, Rouge?" shouted Shadow, nearly tripping on himself. As Shadow searched around, fireballs lit up the caves for a brief moment, disappearing shortly after it appeared, flashing Shadow with a blinding light before returning him back to darkness. A few seconds later, more fireballs appeared, as it lit up the wall of hieroglyphs, with Sonic's face crudely drawn over the pictures. Shadow stumbled forward as he heard footsteps ahead of him, nearly falling down to the ground as he brought out his Chaos Emerald.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" scowled Shadow, shouting in no particular direction. "Wherever you've gone, Sonic, you're not going to get away from me!"

"Wanna bet?" chuckled Sonic, as he smirked chaotically, appearing behind Shadow, close enough for Shadow to feel his breath. Shadow turned around as he felt Sonic's presence, but Sonic disappeared from sight before Shadow could bring his body around to the other side. More fireballs flashed around him, as Sonic cackled further into the caves.

Shadow spun himself around and blasted his way forward into the dark caves, barreling through the tunnels up until he got to the end of the caves, coming into an open area, with torches lighting up the place as Shadow got himself to a stone slope, very gradually going downwards towards a solid clay door, a different colour from the rest of the stone of the pyramid.

Throughout the area, pieces of robots were strewn all over the place, with broken arms and heads and other limbs of the robot's bodies lying carelessly on the ground, and other pieces that were indecipherable from anything else. Shadow noticed that Doctor Eggman's logo was visible on some of the parts, as Shadow picked up one of the parts and crushed it in his hand. He threw the part far away from himself, not even looking back as he ran towards the clay door, spinning up as he got to the door before releasing himself at the door, breaking through it as it smashed into pieces.

As Shadow brushed off the dust that the clay door left on him, he could overhear Sonic's maniacal laughter roaring in the distance, simmering Shadow in anger. Shadow sprinted forward and jumped up to a horizontal pole hanging from chains dangling in the ceiling. Shadow turned on the pole a couple of times, jumping off towards another pole, and after swinging a few times, jumped off again onto a stone platform on the other side of the two poles.

Shadow dashed forward towards a loop made of the same stone supporting the ground, as Shadow speedily went through the loop, not being slowed down at all by the steep curves; if anything, it made him move faster. He got to the end of the loop and found more destroyed robots, all of them in one piece but tipped over on their side and completely inactive, void of any power it might have once had. Shadow ran past the robots as he jumped onto a railing curving up and downwards, enabling Shadow to pick up speed as he grinded on the rail with his shoes, speeding through until he reached the end of the rail, launching him upwards as he quickly came back towards the stone ground, nearly running straight into a wall as he stopped on a dime, skidding on the ground.

Shadow turned around from where he was, noticing that there was an elaborate door nearby where he landed, alongside which there was a platform where a large key could fit inside. Shadow looked around the area to search for the large key, but stopped and tensed his muscles as he could overhear Sonic's mischievous laughter ringing in his ears again, causing Shadow to clench his fists as he started to boil in rage. Before Shadow could react to this, a few ghosts started to attack Shadow from every direction, grappling with Shadow as he kept getting hit from the ghosts' strikes, while Shadow kept swinging right through the ghosts, not making any effect on them. Soon one of the ghosts grabbed onto Shadow as he could hardly move his arms and legs, quickly being surrounded by more ghosts as he struggled to squirm free from their grasp.

Even with his arms restricted, Shadow was still able to get the Chaos Emerald into his hand, quickly absorbing the energy from it as he burst free from the ghosts, but only pushed them back a few feet as they started to lurch back at Shadow. Shadow spun himself into a ball and started to move around the ghosts, travelling in circles as he caused the ghosts to get disoriented at the speed he was climbing to, giving Shadow an opportunity to get away from the ghosts while they still searched for him, and drew up more energy from the Chaos Emerald to absorb enough power to send a shockwave across the entire room, launching the ghosts through the walls where they came from, as Shadow let himself be one with the Chaos powers, almost meditating with the Chaos Emerald.

Shadow was distracted, however, when he heard Sonic land not far from where he was standing. Shadow snapped his body around and stood a short distance from Sonic. Sonic smirked widely as Shadow coldly stared back at Sonic.

"So, you've decided to stop by for a visit?" chuckled Sonic, while impatiently tapping his feet. "Well, what are you waiting for, then? Come after me, faker!"

In a fit of rage, Shadow rushed towards Sonic, as Sonic stood still where he was, smiling widely as Shadow ran as fast as he could towards him. Just before Shadow collided with Sonic, the floor underneath Shadow gave out and Shadow fell into a dark pit, while Sonic burst out in uncontrollable laughter, echoing louder and louder in the pit even as Shadow fell a few feet deep down in the ground.

"That was too easy!" cackled Sonic, completely beside himself. "I thought you were smarter than that, Shadow. You'll have to excuse me, I'll have some fun with that friend you brought with you…" Sonic ran off from the pit, whooping and cheering as he disappeared from earshot, while Shadow grumbled inside the pit. Shadow looked around the walls of the pit, finding some stones to latch onto while he gradually climbed back out of the pit. As he got back up to the surface, he was met face to face with the ghosts again, staring deeply into his soul. Shadow spun himself around, building momentum as he blasted his way through the ghosts, dissipating them as he spun through them.

Shadow landed back on his feet as the remaining ghosts drifted towards him, lunging at him in desperation, but Shadow brought back out his Chaos Emerald and sent a quick energy blast at the ghosts, cutting through the ghosts as the last of them disappeared. Shadow stood still for a few moments, breathing heavily in and out as he caught his breath. He scanned the area around him, not finding any trace of Sonic or Rouge anywhere. Shadow's muscles started to tense up as silence started to fill up the room, with not a single other soul in sight around him – not one ghost or any other being around him.

Out of the corner of his eye, Shadow spotted a couple of creatures scurrying into a corner of a wall, burying themselves in a crack in the wall where they came from. Shadow ran over to the crack in the wall, being able to see through the cracks, seeing another room on the other side of the wall. Shadow took a few steps back from the wall before charging straight at the cracks in the wall, bursting through the wall as it crumbled around him, sending bricks flying in all directions. Once all the dust settled, Shadow found a small tomb, containing a stone bed where someone could lie down in, but the stone bed was empty, containing nothing but rope left behind, as well as some small traces of blood laying around the area.

Shadow shook his head as he turned back away from the tomb and started to make his way back out from the indent he made in the wall, when he heard muffled screaming from behind the tomb, along with the sound of someone banging heavily onto the wall of the tomb. Shadow immediately ran back towards the tomb and put his ear towards the wall of the tomb, being able to identify Rouge screaming in terror as he also heard her struggling away from Sonic.

"Get away from me!" Rouge screamed out at Sonic, gasping for breath in between words.

"Hold still," Sonic slithered as he scuffled with Rouge. "Just let me get closer to you…"

Shadow bashed his hand at the wall of the tomb, making a small dent as he writhed in pain, having his hand stop right at the wall. Shadow then rammed his shoulder onto the wall, leaning all of his weight on the wall, doing anything he could to get to Rouge. Out of his desperation, Shadow started to slip on the ground, as his feet scurried on the floor, worn down by him skidding all over the place. Eventually, Shadow spun himself up and dashed towards the wall, colliding head on with the bricks as he finally made a small crack inside the wall of the tomb.

On the other side of the wall, Sonic noticed one of the walls of the tomb getting more unstable, and drew his head away from Rouge, brushing her aside as Sonic got stood up, facing directly towards the wall that was now being chipped down piece by piece. "Looks like we'll have to stop for now, sweetheart… your creepy ex-boyfriend's back!"

As Shadow burst through the wall of the tomb and came crashing through all the bricks, he stumbled directly towards Sonic, as Sonic grabbed Shadow as he fell forwards, lifting him up slightly from the ground by his neck. "Who said you could look through like a peeping tom?" shouted Sonic, shaking Shadow up in a furious rage.

Sonic stared deeply into Shadow's eyes, forcing Shadow to look directly back at Sonic, noticing that Sonic's eyes had turned into a dark shade of red, much like Shadow's eyes but much brighter and vivid. It startled Shadow, also noticing that Sonic was now breathing more erratically, gritting his teeth as his grip tightened on Shadow's neck.

"You've disturbed me for the last time," scowled Sonic, as the grip on Shadow was so tight his fingernails started to dig deep into Shadow's skin. Shadow clawed at Sonic's hand as much as he could, but could find no way to get Sonic off his neck, as Shadow struggled to breathe but couldn't draw in any air around him.

Rouge got back off the ground holding her head when she saw Sonic holding Shadow up from the ground, as she could see Shadow in tremendous amounts of pain while Sonic looked onward, gnashing his teeth as Shadow started to grow weak, slowing down his frantic movements to break free from Sonic's grasp. Rouge ran up to where Sonic was and swung her fist directly at Sonic's head, knocking him directly in the forehead with the velocity of a sledgehammer, sending him down towards the ground.

Shadow gasped for breath as Sonic groaned in agony on the ground, barely moving as his body laid face down and his face turned to its side. Rouge ran towards Shadow, helping him off the ground as the two scurried away from Sonic while he was lying down.

As Rouge and Shadow got outside the tomb, Shadow leaned his back on one of the walls left standing as he started to breathe less hectically, taking in deeper and longer breaths. "You… saved me," gasped Shadow.

"Really, you saved me," huffed Rouge, catching her own breath. "But let's get out of here while we can! We have to… get out…"

Shadow got his back off the wall as he started to move away from the tomb, slowly drawing a small smile at Rouge. He didn't say a word, but simply felt thankful for being with Rouge at that moment in time, grateful for her actions.

"Did you… find any clues about where the emerald is?" asked Shadow, wheezing in between breaths.

Rouge briefly turned towards the tomb, checking to see if Sonic had emerged, before checking her back pocket. "It was inside the tomb this whole time. I'm assuming there was more defenses put up by Eggman, but they seemed to be disabled by Sonic. It was buried pretty deep inside the tomb… I was just about to get out when Sonic stopped me. He had no idea I had been carrying this." Rouge very carefully showed part of the yellow Chaos Emerald, shining brightly even with bits of sand spread out around the gem.

As the light shone off the piece of the Chaos Emerald, the glimmer of light woke Sonic up from his daze, jumping him right off the ground as he instantaneously sprinted towards Shadow and Rouge. Shadow noticed Sonic spinning up towards them and started to pick up Rouge and carry her at full speed, but Sonic rammed the two of them, sending them both flying in opposite directions, along with the Chaos Emerald in a different direction.

Shadow picked himself off the ground as he frantically searched for the Chaos Emerald, turning his head quickly in all directions, as he noticed Sonic slowly get himself back up from the ground. Shadow found Rouge, pointing behind Shadow a few feet away from each other.

"Quickly!" shouted Rouge. "Get the emerald!"

Shadow immediately ran towards the emerald and dived on top of it, grabbing it as soon as he could as he could lay his fingers on it. As he fully grasped the yellow Chaos Emerald, he heard Rouge give a quick shriek before it got interrupted by Sonic, grabbing her by the neck this time.

"You're not going to get away this time," threatened Sonic, tightening his grip on Rouge's neck. Shadow started to sprint towards Sonic to knock him down with the powers of the new emerald, but Sonic brought out one of the emeralds of his own and collided face to face with Shadow, dropping Rouge on the floor. Shadow kept sprinting at Sonic but was not moving an inch, while Sonic was holding still, absorbing all of the energy Shadow was throwing at him. Eventually, Sonic sent a shockwave of energy at Shadow, sending Shadow directly into a wall, as his back slammed hard on the brick surface while he slid on the wall towards the ground.

Sonic went back to Rouge as he wrapped his arms around Rouge's head from behind, holding one arm on her neck and the other on her forehead. Without saying another word, Sonic turned Rouge's head from one direction to another, twisting it on its side as her neck let out a snap across the temple, stopping everyone where they were. Shadow heard the snap and felt his heart sink as the silence of the air filled in, as Rouge slumped down and fell limp on the ground.

Shadow and Sonic both looked at Rouge in silence, Shadow in pure horror while Sonic checked to see if Rouge was not moving any longer. Sonic leaned over and felt Rouge's face, feeling the warmth fade away along with the light in her eyes. Soon, Sonic started to chuckle and smile at Rouge's fate, all while Shadow couldn't turn his head away, shuddering in fear.

"Oh, I'm sorry," grinned Sonic. "Did she mean anything to you? My apologies… it won't happen again." Sonic chuckled lightly, as he turned back towards Rouge's lifeless body. "I didn't expect her to snap so quickly! It's a shame, really, she seemed like a nice girl. Oh well… you might as well have her, faker. She wasn't my type, anyway."

Shadow got back up from the ground, charging furiously at Sonic, letting his anger seep deep into his blood as Sonic dodged out of Shadow's way. Shadow swung a punch at Sonic, landing perfectly at Sonic but producing no effect as it bounced directly off his face. Shadow got close to Sonic again, but Sonic picked up Shadow and threw him downwards off the ledge and down deep towards a dark corridor, away from the tomb they were in a moment ago, and far away from any light shining in the temple.

Sonic looked back at Rouge's body, quickly searching around her. "Odd… I thought I saw an emerald on you. No matter. I'll find it soon enough."

Back down in the dark corridor, Shadow weakly looked up above him as Sonic cackled away in the background, laughing maniacally while shuddering Shadow to the spine as it echoed in the temple. Soon his thoughts turned to Rouge, only realizing the gravity of her fate, knowing that he was never going to see her alive again. Shadow's fear quickly turned towards despair, as Shadow covered his ears and wrapped himself up in a ball, shielding Sonic's laughter as much as he could, but not finding a way for it to dig deep into Shadow's mind, terrorizing him from the inside out.

"Why did you have to die…" Shadow cried quietly, tears starting to drip down his face. "Why couldn't I have saved you… Damn you Sonic! Damn you!" Shadow sobbed bitterly, as his cries were being smothered up by the evil cackles from Sonic.


	9. Chapter 9

Far away from the pyramids, Shadow managed to get alone in the dark, deep forests, far apart from Sonic and his demonic deeds. Shadow could still hear Sonic's demonic taunting inside his mind, even as Sonic was nowhere to be seen in his sight, as he ran far away as fast as he could. He didn't care about anything else at that moment – he just ran out of the pyramids, throwing caution to the wind. As night fell within the area, Shadow found himself in the dark of the forests, trees covering every bit of moonlight in the area, surrounding Shadow in complete darkness.

With all the sunlight gone and with Shadow far away from the blistering heat of the desert, Shadow found a tall tree to rest his head under, curling himself up to maintain any warmth that he had, though even then Shadow was shivering as the temperature was cold enough that the air chilled down Shadow no matter what he did. It was the first time in ages that Shadow could remember having some form of rest, especially since he first appeared on Earth.

But now Shadow felt he was as far away as he could be from Sonic, and he was somewhere where he was certain Sonic wouldn't be able to find him, at least for the next few days.

"I'm gonna get that son of a bitch," Shadow bitterly scowled to himself, talking to the trees in the forest. He vowed that to himself to ensure that he wouldn't forget what Sonic did to him, to Rouge, to everybody around him.

Shadow was left alone for a few moments, reluctantly letting the wind accompany him, as it swirled around the trees, whipping around every corner. He curled himself up further into the hard ground, shielding the wind with only his body. He rested his eyes, exhausted from the battles from the last few days.

The solitude gave Shadow the opportunity to reflect on himself, as the wind quieted down enough for him to be able to think to himself. "What is my blood made of?" Shadow asked himself. "How can my blood make Sonic into a monster? It just doesn't make any sense…"

Flashbacks were soon transplanted into Shadow's mind, giving him views of the distant past. Shadow could vividly remember being onboard the Ark fifty-six years ago, when his world was crushed by those around him. At one moment, he was living peacefully onboard the Ark, blissfully unaware of the problems around him. The next, his best friend was dead, and the whole world around him started to crumble. "Everyone I love ends up dead," Shadow mourned, hiding his face from the darkness. "What have I done to deserve all this?"

Shadow vividly remembered being inside the stasis tube onboard the Ark, not long after his best friend died, being unable to save her as he was enclosed inside the tube, sheltered from everyone else around him. Years later, after he was reawakened by Doctor Robotnik, he nearly brought the world to its feet in pursuit of revenge, only to save it once again. After foreseeing the destruction he nearly brought down to the Earth, Shadow knew in that moment he couldn't repeat the same mistake again.

Yet, here he was, lying under the trees, with another friend dead and with Sonic being the one destroying the world. "All because of my fault," simmered Shadow. The recent events fighting with Robotnik flashed in his mind again, desperately trying to save Sonic while he lied down helplessly on the operating table. "Everything wrong that's happened to me is because of my own carelessness… I was too naïve to save Maria, too angry to stop the Ark while I had the chance, too desperate to save Sonic, at least the Sonic I knew…"

Shadow shook his fist and clenched it tighter and tighter, gritting his teeth as he simmered in anger and shame, recounting the events he did in the past. Eventually, Shadow jumped up from the ground and smashed his fist against the tree, creating a huge dent in the bark as exploded in rage at himself, releasing his rage out in the open, breaking the silence of the night.

"Dammit!" yelled Shadow, as he kept punching the tree in front of him. "Why do I keep doing this to myself? Why am I so careless?" Shadow withdrew himself from the tree briefly to catch his breath, as his face started to get warm from his anger. He picked up the closest rock near him and without thinking, chucked it as far as he could into the forest, hitting one of the branches clean off as the rock and the branch both crashed down to the ground. Shadow turned back to the tree he was hitting against earlier, striking it with more velocity than the first time, as his hands were starting to get sore from hitting against the bark, but Shadow only grew in rage, with the pain only fueling his anger rather than dissipating it.

"Why am I so stupid?!" cried out Shadow, biting his lips as he swung in arms at the tree. He then stood beside the tree, shaking and boiling his blood up to a crisp as he held his fists together, clenching them so tightly that the veins in his arms were starting to pop out. Then, Shadow took a hold of the tree with both of his hands and attempted to uproot it from the ground, but to no avail. He then threw his head forward at the tree, smashing it head first as the shockwave of pain vibrated across his whole body. Shadow continued to bash the tree with his head, not slowing down even as it continued to harm Shadow more and more, causing cuts and bruises along the way, giving Shadow a tremendous headache. "Dammit! I just can't do anything right!"

He continued on hitting his head against the tree, even as blood started to slowly drip down from his forehead, while he continued bashing himself in blind rage. Shadow let out cries of fury at nobody in particular in the forest, satisfying his own tribal needs, but causing his own body to be beaten up, as more blood started to stream down his face, as his whole body grew weaker by the moment.

Shadow was now starting to become light headed as his vision began to get blurry, but Shadow found enough energy to hit his head against the tree a couple more times, much more slowly than before. "Dammit… I can't take this anymore…" He let his hands go from the tree and stumbled around as his vision was now becoming hazier, while his body was barely able to stand on its own feet. Eventually, Shadow collapsed onto the ground and fell right into the dirt beneath the trees, as he laid there motionless on his stomach, his face lying on the side as he began to breathe slower and slower, shivering as the wind started to pick up again. Shadow lied still on the ground, not moving an inch, except for the odd twitch in his eye every now and then. But Shadow made no effort to pick himself back up, too exhausted to move himself.

As Shadow started to faze in and out of consciousness, he kept his eyes shut, letting the wind soothe his warm head, though Shadow was content to let his anger settle down inside his mind, even with his whole body aching from head to toe. He started to hear a calming voice enter his mind, like somebody coming close to him and whispering in his ear, gently caring for him as he faded away from reality.

"Shadow…" the calming voice caressed the hedgehog, immediately bringing a warm smile to his face. "Shadow, wake up…"

Shadow lied still on the ground as he started to relax, feeling more comfortable with his surroundings. The calming voice only crept closer to Shadow's consciousness, wanting to catch his attention. "Shadow, wake up… the whole world is depending on you!"

The hedgehog hazily opened his eyes, barely able to see a few feet past himself as his head started to pound in immense pain. Shadow began to feel more of his body, gradually regaining his consciousness as the same calming voice started to speak in a more urgent matter. "Wake up, Shadow!"

Shadow practically jumped off the ground, suddenly finding a jolt of energy which even he didn't think he had before. Shadow frantically searched for the one calling his name out, only to find a young woman standing nearby, with her familiar blonde hair and blue headband nearly making Shadow faint from her appearance, as Shadow could barely believe his eyes. "…Maria!" he called out, reaching out his hand to the young woman as he started to quickly make his way towards her.

"Shadow," said Maria, startling Shadow right as he was about to get near her. "You must stay vigilant against Sonic… I beg of you… don't give up."

Shadow stared at Maria for a couple of moments, pinching himself periodically as Maria stood still, looking solemnly towards the ground. Shadow then looked away from Maria, noticing his own blood on his hands as he hung his head in shame.

"You're hurt," Maria spoke quietly, gently brushing her hand against Shadow's face. "What happened to you?"

Shadow silently shook his head, biting his lip as he started to tremble in front of Maria. "I… failed you, Maria. I promised to bring hope to humanity, to save the world… I've only caused trouble to the world…"

Maria brought Shadow's head up with her hand, as the two saw each other eye to eye, while Maria looked onwards at Shadow's bloodied head. "There's always time to make a difference to humanity as long as you're alive and breathing, Shadow! You're more powerful than you realize, Shadow. Not just in the powers you have with you, but also in the powers _inside_ you," said Maria confidently, poking at Shadow's chest.

Shadow remained unmoved by Maria's words of encouragement. "What can I do now? Sonic has destroyed everything in his path. I've turned him into a monster…"

"Don't give up just yet, Shadow," said Maria with a soft smile. "You can't give up now, not while there's still hope! And there can never be no hope, not while the world is still spinning!" Maria looked up at Shadow, noticing that he was still glum and depressed. "Everybody makes mistakes, too, Shadow. Even me. But what matters is how we react to it!"

Shadow stared blankly at Maria, focusing on every detail of her eyes and face, shaking his head in disbelief. "How can I make things right again, Maria? It feels like everything I try to do ends in disaster."

"You've got to forgive, Shadow," insisted Maria, pointing straight at his head. "You've got to forgive those around you, for they are just as capable of making mistakes as you are. And you've got to forgive yourself as well. You're just as much as a special creature than anyone else on the planet. Don't let anyone else tell you differently."

Shadow felt Maria hold his hand gently, and Shadow brought his hands together with Maria's, slowly enjoying the company with Maria as he started to smile gently.

"I miss you," said Shadow.

"I know," replied Maria. "But I can't stay for long. Neither can you, if you're going to save this world one more time."

Shadow's mind went blank as he felt Maria's hands leave Shadow's, leaving Shadow empty handed as the two stood close to each other. Shadow nervously bit his lip again, shyly looking away from Maria as he stood quietly near Maria.

"Something the matter?" asked Maria.

Shadow looked up to Maria, barely keeping his composure. "I… love you."

Maria smiled, placing her hand onto Shadow's face again. "I love you too, Shadow. That's really sweet of you to say that. If the whole world loved each other, as a part of humanity, then the world would be a better place. I'm certain that this can happen one day. But it can't happen without your help, Shadow."

"I know," Shadow sighed, gently bringing his hand to Maria's as he gently wrapped it around.

Maria gently tapped her free hand onto Shadow's hands, as Shadow gently let go of Maria, freeing her hands again. "Grandpa would be so proud of you, Shadow. He would be so proud of what you've done for the world. Make him proud again, Shadow."

"I will," Shadow replied back. "I won't let either of you down."

Maria smiled softly, as she slowly stepped back. "Goodbye, Shadow…"

Shadow could barely react as Maria was drifting away from him, as Shadow reached out towards Maria, while Maria drifted out of reach. Shadow started to run towards Maria, as Maria started to fade away from sight. "Wait… come back, Maria! Come back!" Tears started to run down Shadow's face as Maria grew more and more distant from Shadow, even as Shadow was now starting to run at full speed towards Maria, brushing by any trees that stood in the way. "Don't leave me, Maria! Please… stay, please…"

Just as Maria disappeared from sight, Shadow crashed into someone directly in his path, tripping Shadow up as he fell back down on the ground. In front of him was a golden fox, groaning as he slowly got up from the ground. As the fox fully got back up on his feet, he found Shadow struggling to get up in front of him and instinctively lunged at Shadow, wrestling with him as he snarled and bore his teeth. Shadow pushed the fox out of the way as he jumped right to his feet, opening and closing his eyes to adjust his focus.

"So, you've decided to finally show yourself, huh?" scowled Miles, clenching his fists. "I'll kill you for what you've done to Sonic!"

Before Shadow could react, Miles dived back at Shadow, swinging a punch straight at Shadow's face, As it hit Shadow's skull, Shadow fell down to the ground and was barely able to process what had happened when Miles dove down to Shadow, forcing Shadow to grab Miles' hands as it got close to Shadow's face. Shadow managed to push Miles aside as he got back up on his feet, mentally preparing himself for battle.

Miles quickly brought out a knife from his pocket and charged straight at Shadow, jabbing it towards Shadow, getting it close to his chest. Shadow used all of his strength to push aside Miles, barely able to keep the knife away from his body as Miles swung the knife at Shadow, barely missing him each time. Shadow was then able to get a hold of Miles' wrist, digging his claws into the wrist, forcing the knife out of Miles' hand, as it dropped to the ground. After the knife was out of Miles' hand, Shadow gave a quick elbow to Miles, hitting him square in the forehead, as the two started to wrestle and punch each other wildly.

Miles gritted his teeth as he kept swinging at Shadow, only to be blocked each time by the hedgehog. Shadow was able to grab a hold of Miles' arm and twist it downwards, even as Miles was using all of his strength to lurch at Shadow. Eventually, Miles tried to swing his other arm at Shadow, but Shadow took the opportunity to bash Miles in the face, causing blood to start flowing from Miles' nose as he continued to struggle against Shadow, only to be stopped each time.

Shadow eventually ran out of patience and started to attack Miles directly, hitting just about everywhere on his body, striking the face, the ribcage, the upper chest, everywhere. Miles kept fighting furiously with Shadow, but Shadow started to simmer with rage again, not holding back anymore as he started to strike Miles with blind rage.

Eventually, Shadow struck Miles down and dropped him to the ground. Barely able to move and his face covered with blood, Miles lay motionless against a tree, cursing under his breath. Shadow slowly walked up to Miles, noticing some of Miles' blood on his own hands. He looked down to Miles, as his body slumped away from Shadow, eyes firmly shut as Miles started to tremble and whimper in front of him. Soon, tears started to form from his face, streaming down his cheeks.

"Damn you, Shadow," sobbed Miles quietly. "I'm never going to find Amy now… Damn you…" He trailed off, sobbing loudly as Shadow could only look on with guilt, unable to wipe off the blood from his hands. He watched as Miles broke down completely in front of his eyes, shaking his head and not saying a word in reply.

Shadow looked up to the sky as the sun started to rise above the horizon, showing the reds and oranges in the partially cloudy sky. He started to breathe more heavily as he closed his eyes, concentrating on his words. "Tails, I'm… sorry… for what I did…"

Miles, still sobbing profusely, opened his eyes and cautiously looked up at Shadow, still shivering as he rubbed his eyes. He didn't say a word, too afraid to say anything near Shadow.

Shadow looked down solemnly at Miles, continuing to shake his head in shame. "I should have known my blood was going to screw Sonic up, Tails. I wanted to save him, Tails… I only made him into a monster."

Miles scowled as he regained his composure and started to pick himself off from the ground, while Shadow stood still and motionless, brooding to himself. "You knew damn well that your blood wasn't compatible with Sonic's! You should have considered that before you pumped your poison into him, you freak!"

Shadow immediately grabbed Miles by the throat and dragged him off the ground, pinning him against the tree. Miles grabbed Shadow's arm and struggled to break free from his grasp, but was unable to do so, feeling every bit of Shadow's wrath. Shadow then let go of Miles and slowly stepped away from him, as Miles fell back down towards the ground, allowing Miles to catch his breath. Shadow clenched his fists, letting himself simmer down to a crisp.

Miles turned away from Shadow, unable to look at him any further. "Dammit, Shadow… get out of my life! Haven't you caused enough misery already?"

Shadow sighed and shrugged, hanging his head in defeat. "If you want me to leave, I'll leave. I don't know how else I can help you."

"Just leave me alone, you son of a bitch," Miles scowled, as he kept facing away from Shadow. He didn't say another word to Shadow, leaving the two in silence as Shadow slowly started to walk away from Miles, leaving him lying down on the tree.

As Shadow was about to get out of sight from Miles, Shadow felt the earth underneath him shake up beneath his feet, causing him to trip up and fall forwards, bracing himself on the ground with his hands. Shadow felt the ground give way behind him and jumped up towards the trees, barely able to climb up to the branches as pools of lava started to form around him.

Shadow looked around the rapidly depleting area and noticed that Miles was still laying nearly unconscious, so Shadow jumped away from the branches and jumped back and forth on the remains of the ground, quickly splitting up from the earthquakes all around him. Shadow found Miles coming to, only starting to figure out what was going on around him, as Shadow grabbed Miles without hesitation, dragging him up above the growing lava pits and onto a large patch of solid ground, landing heavily on the dirt.

Miles slowly got up to his feet as he caught his breath, brushing off the dirt that landed on his body. "What the hell is going on? Is this some kind of earthquake?" He turned to see Shadow beside him, looking at the lava pits in front of the two of them, quietly surveying the area. "You… saved me…"

Shadow didn't respond, still continuing to survey the area around him, as more lava started to flow from every direction.

Miles closed his eyes as his breath started to grow heavy, not only from the heat of the lava but from the near-death experience. "I don't know what to say, Shadow… I didn't think you would go out of your way to get me out of there."

"It was the only thing I could do," replied Shadow. "I couldn't let you die, too. I've had enough people die around me."

Miles stood in silence for a few moments, as the lava started to recede slightly, though it was still flowing as fast as it did before. Suddenly, the ground started to shake around them again, causing Miles to lose his balance and fall down onto the ground. Miles quickly got back on his feet as he and Shadow went above onto the branches of a large tree, far away from the epicenter of the lava flowing around them. There, the earthquakes ceased again, allowing Shadow and Miles to rest, even for a second.

"You said you were looking for Amy?" asked Shadow, short of breath.

Miles glared at Shadow as he wiped off the sweat forming from his forehead. "I've been looking for her since this whole mess started, Dammit! Why do you think I've gotten desperate to find the emeralds?"

Shadow clenched his fist, banging it against one of the branches of the tree. "So, Sonic has her, right?"

"Of course he does," snarled Miles. "He even admitted to it the last time I saw him."

"What?" Shadow widened his eyes, tensing up his muscles. "That's not a good sign. How long has she been missing? We have to find her before Sonic does something to her."

"That's exactly why I've been scrambling to find her," shouted Miles exasperatingly. "What do you think I've been trying to do the last few days?"

Shadow turned away, lightly tapping his head in frustration. "Well, we'd better go and find her, then. Where do you think she might be in here?"

"Knuckles seemed to think that there was a Chaos Emerald buried somewhere in Marble Garden," said Miles, pointing out towards the ancient ruins not far from where they stood. "This lava's going to make getting there that much more difficult."

"The lava seems to have receded enough for us to go deeper," said Shadow, scanning at the path towards the ruins. "We'll have to go now before anything happens to the ground around us."

Without saying another word, Shadow jumped off from the branches the two were hanging onto, and ran down the narrow pathway leading directly to the ancient ruins of the Marble Garden. Miles reluctantly jumped down and followed behind Shadow, building up speed while running through the narrow path, slowly being closed in by the slow-moving lava.

The two of them managed to run towards an ancient temple held up by large stone pillars, above where the path and the lava were located. Taking the time to check where they were located, Miles brought out his communicator and Shadow went and gathered his two emeralds, the green and yellow ones.

"You got another emerald?" asked Miles.

"Yes," sighed Shadow. "It's a long story. I'd rather not talk about it."

"Fair enough," rushed Miles, as he held up his communicator in front of him. "Damn, this communicator is spotty. The lava must be interfering with the signal." Miles glanced his eyes over to Shadow, still keying on his communicator. "You think your emeralds could give us a better clue as to where the emerald in here might be?"

"It might," replied Shadow, casually glancing at the emeralds. "They seem to attract each other… their powers are far more complicated than anyone can comprehend."

Shadow stared at the two emeralds for a few moments, holding one in each of his hands. They glowed intermittingly, shining a reflection back at Shadow, but soon returned to normal, just as it was before.

"Any luck?" asked Miles.

"Nothing," sighed Shadow. "The lava might be affecting the powers of the emeralds as well. Then again, I've used them quite a lot recently, so that might have something to do with the lack of power I'm receiving right now."

"No sense staying here, then," said Miles, gazing out into the distance. "We should go onward, since the emerald isn't anywhere around us."

Just as Miles was about to step forward from the ancient ruins, the ground around them shook once again, shaking the pillars violently enough to get them to destabilize the whole structure. Shadow and Miles bolted out of the area as fast as they could, as the pillars gave way and caused the whole structure to crash down above them, as the roof of the ruins fell downwards, crashing onto the ground just as the two got out of harms' way.

Miles glanced behind him as he kept running away from the structure, while debris still came crashing down around them, crumbling to bits as the earthquakes started to subside again. "This can't be a natural occurrence," scowled Miles. "The Marble Garden isn't known for having frequent tectonic activity – at least, this frequent."

"Something's definitely going on here," replied Shadow. "I don't like the sounds of it."

The two went forward onto the stone pathways far above any lava around them, though the pathway was starting to warp and bend in all kinds of directions, deformed from its normal shape. Shadow still managed to jump over the humps made by the deformed path, while Miles simply flew over them, landing where he could to gain more momentum.

The two eventually arrived at another ancient structure, appearing very similar to the one beforehand, only with much more pillars than the first one, allowing it to stand even as a couple of pillars had cracks starting to form.

Shadow stopped where he was and took out his two Chaos Emeralds, feeling them glow brighter as he started to step closer to the ancient structure. "Looks like we're getting close," said Shadow.

Miles brought out his communicator again, shaking his head as the communicator didn't respond to any of his commands. "I'm still not getting any signal from it. I'll have to take your word for it."

The ground then started to shake violently again, taking out a large section of the structure as it crashed near the entrance, blocking the only way inside, with the only way to go way further into the now crumbling structure.

"Great," grumbled Miles. "Guess we don't have a choice of going further now, huh?"

Shadow ignored Miles' protests, instead setting his feet down on the stone brick ground, and then spun himself in place, aiming directly at the section that fell down nearby. He spun at the section of the ancient structure, hitting it directly but not making any headway into providing another way out.

"Damn," growled Shadow, holding his head. "I thought I had enough speed there."

"No matter," replied Miles. "We'll have to see if the emerald is down there."

As Miles started to make his way downward into the lower levels of the ancient ruins, Shadow followed behind him, but Shadow started to feel anxious, as his mind started to spin and unravel. "I don't like the sounds of this," said Shadow quietly to himself, reluctantly following Miles down into the ruins.

While the corridor winded in all kinds of directions, circling around and around, Shadow felt the air around him get warmer, but thought nothing of it, dismissing it every time it popped into his mind as the two went downwards into the ancient ruins. Eventually, Miles stopped suddenly as he approached the edge of the corridor they were running on, while Shadow hurriedly stopped behind him, nearly pushing over Miles accidentally a few feet into a lava pit bubbling below them.

"Watch where you're running, Shadow!" yelled Miles, pushing Shadow aside as he found his footing on the edge.

Shadow looked down at the lava pit, as it oozed above the stone bricks a few feet below. "This definitely formed recently," said Shadow. "The platform we're on broke off just a few moments ago. I can see some of the stone from the platform inside the lava." He gazed forward from the platform towards the other side of the lava, finding an entrance on the same level the platform was supposed to be on. "Looks like the stone was supposed to connect to the exit over there, but it's obviously gone now."

"What do you suggest?" asked Miles.

"I don't think we have a choice," sighed Shadow. "We'll have to go down and jump on what's left of the stone to get to the other side."

Shadow leapt downwards to a piece of the platform without saying another word, not giving Miles a chance to reply back. He slowly flew himself downwards towards the same chunk of stone Shadow was one, using his tails to gently glide himself down to the stone large enough to comfortably have them stand on it without risking falling off.

Shadow started to jump to the closest piece of stone nearby, jumping from piece to piece while managing to stay above the lava, while Miles followed behind Shadow, gliding in the air with his tails while landing on the same pieces of stone to gain momentum.

As Shadow jumped off another stone, Miles landed not too long after him, but as he landed onto the stone, the ground started to shake around him, shifting the stone and the lava, enough for Miles to lose his footing and slide off the stone, grazing on the hot lava. He managed to swing himself upwards away from the lava, but as Miles managed to level himself, he found himself far away from any stone to set himself down on, with the one he was on last having been swallowed up completely by the lava.

"Shadow!" yelled Miles, frantically searching around him. "Where did you go?"

Shadow landed on top of a stone perched high above the lava, but only large enough to have him stand on it, leaving no room for anyone else. Shadow saw Miles flying in the air, as Miles started to become visibly tired, gradually losing altitude while using all of his strength to keep his tails spinning. Shadow felt compelled to jump at Miles and try to catch him, but he hesitated, not wanting to beat Miles down towards the lava, or jump into the lava himself.

As Miles started to drift towards the lava, out of breath as his tails started to slow down significantly, Shadow jumped towards Miles, landing on the closest stone nearest to where he was, though this was still quite a distance away from where Miles was dropping down to., Shadow leapt forwards towards Miles right as Miles' feet touched the lava, scorching Miles' feet as he struggled to stay in one place. Shadow landed nearby Miles, also landing into the lava as his feet was also scorched as well.

Both Shadow and Miles both jumped rapidly to get out of the lava as much as they could, but Miles started to sink into the lava, getting the calves of his legs burned as he screamed in agony. Shadow grabbed Miles out of the lava while jumping simultaneously, throwing Miles into the air as he started to head back towards the closest stone. Miles was thrown high into the air, nearly hitting his head onto the ceiling of the corridor, but he was able to get his tails spinning again, keeping him lifted in the air.

As Miles started to stabilize himself, he noticed Shadow starting to sink into the lava as well, and rushed straight down after Shadow, grabbing him just like Shadow did to him before, yanking him straight out of the lava before he could sink too deeply into it. Miles carried Shadow towards the closest stone, as Shadow landed his feet onto the stone and continued to hold onto Miles, allowing Miles to land on his back so that he could build momentum and stay in the air. Miles went up into the air and was able to carry Shadow forward towards the next stone, and continued onwards, as Miles carried Shadow while landing on Shadow's back each time, moving forward at a fast pace as they reached the exit of the corridor.

When they got to the edge of the corridor, the exit was perched a few feet above them, as they stood on another stone directly below it. Shadow landed on the stone as he looked up at Miles, still holding onto him. "Jump, Tails!" yelled Shadow at Miles. Miles landed on Shadow's back and leapt up in the air, grabbing onto the edge of the exit, barely able to lift himself onto the edge. Shadow lowered his legs and built up strength, jumping out of the stone with enough velocity to leap higher than even he thought imaginable, as Miles grabbed onto Shadow and helped him up the ledge towards the exit, as Shadow rolled onto the edge and lied down on the ground, breathing heavy sighs of relief.

Miles winced as he lied down nearby Shadow, noticing the burns on his calves. Miles turned away from his calves in disgust. "Damn, that hurt like hell…"

Shadow also sat in pain, but didn't say a word, as he looked towards the exit of the corridor, leading up into the surface. He took out his emeralds again, as they glowed brighter than they did at the entrance of the ancient structure. Shadow slowly got up from the ground as he grasped the emeralds in his hands. "Come on, Tails. The next emerald is close by. I can feel it."

Shadow and Miles both walked painfully towards the surface, coming out of the corridor and into the rising sunlight, broken up by the remaining pillars left standing. Rubble was scattered around the area, not only from pillars but also from other stone objects, statues, and bits of the walls of the structure, though still stable enough to keep standing by itself.

"What do you sense from the emeralds now?" asked Miles.

Shadow looked over to one of the Chaos Emeralds as it started to flash brightly and quickly, gradually increasing in the pace it flashed in. "It seems to be getting stronger now. We're almost there now, I can sense it."

"But not quite close enough," chuckled a sinister creature, creeping up from behind. The blue hedgehog let out a burst of energy at Shadow and Miles, cackling as the two were hurled forward from where they were standing.

Miles slowly got up and froze in horror as Sonic shot a beam of energy from his hands, striking Miles directly as he was thrown further back far away from the battle near the rubble of the ruins. Shadow got up to his feet as he stared down at Sonic, glaring back and showing no emotions back at him.

"You clearly haven't learned your lesson from last time," smirked Sonic, as energy continued to emit from him, while his eyes had formed red swirls around his pupils. "Don't you know that I'm going to become the most powerful being in the world? I thought I proved that to you last time we met."

"We'll see about that," replied Shadow sternly. "I haven't seen anything to suggest you're the most powerful hedgehog around here."

"Hah!" Sonic threw his hand forward in jest. "I'd find that funny if it wasn't so blatantly false. You only have two emeralds to my four. Get ready to be proven wrong, faker!"

Shadow charged directly at Sonic, swinging his fist at his head, striking him directly in his face. Sonic retaliated by elbowing Shadow on the side of the head, temporarily stunning Shadow as he kneeled on the ground. Sonic kicked Shadow as he was down on the ground, flipping Shadow over on his back. Sonic went to stomp directly onto Shadow, but Shadow rolled out of the way just as Sonic lowered his foot down towards Shadow. Shadow got right back up on his feet as he grabbed Sonic's arms immediately, wrestling with Sonic while the two traded punches with each other.

One of the punches managed to strike Sonic in-between the eyes, stunning Sonic much like Shadow was earlier. Shadow took the opportunity to wrap his arms around Sonic's neck, putting him in a chokehold as Sonic struggled to breathe. Sonic elbowed Shadow again in the stomach and broke free from Shadow's grasp, turning around to strike Shadow once again. The two traded punches once again, like champion boxers fighting endlessly against each other, not showing any signs of slowing down. Bruises and blood started forming on both of their faces, as they relentlessly beat and attacked each other.

Sonic then grappled with Shadow and picked him up from the ground, throwing him away towards the stone walls of the ruins, forming cracks as Shadow slid down from the wall towards the ground, grimacing in pain as he cursed at Sonic to himself.

"Giving up already?" laughed Sonic. "I thought you had more fight in you!"

"Don't declare victory just yet," scowled Shadow as he picked himself off from the ground.

Feeling the energy of the two Chaos Emeralds he had, Shadow charged up an aura of energy around himself as he started to walk towards Sonic, while Sonic stood still facing Shadow, eagerly awaiting his response. "Just go ahead and try to stop me!" shouted Sonic arrogantly.

Shadow then spun himself around and dashed right into Sonic's chest, striking him as Sonic was startled by Shadow's speed of his attack. As Sonic flew back, Shadow kept running at Sonic and as Sonic landed, Shadow delivered an uppercut to Sonic, lifting Sonic up into the air. Shadow then jumped up and curled himself into a ball, sending many homing attacks at Sonic while he was still in the air, striking him multiple times until Shadow pummeled Sonic into the stone floor, breaking up the floor into chunks of rocks.

Sonic quickly jumped back to his feet and spun himself up, dashing at Shadow with incredible velocity. Shadow dodged out of the way of Sonic's spin attack, but Sonic rebounded back shortly after passing Shadow, bowling over Shadow from behind as he lost sight of Sonic. Sonic then pulled up beside Shadow and delivered multiple punches and kicks at him, giving Shadow little time to react to each strike as Sonic eventually knocked Shadow into the distance, sending him flying into a solid pillar as Shadow rammed head first into the pillar, falling down hard into the ground.

As Shadow slowly got back up to his feet, Sonic chuckled lightly in-between breaths, as Sonic breathed heavily in and out, hyperventilating rapidly as a large smile slowly formed on his face. "This is good fun… good, good fun," Sonic laughed, as the veins in Sonic's neck started to grow and become more visible, while saliva started to drip down from his mouth as he grinned uncontrollably at Shadow. Shadow could only stare on at Sonic as Sonic's fur stood up on its ends, looking in terror at the friend he used to know.

Shadow readied his two emeralds, but Sonic prepared his four emeralds at the same time, staring at him in anticipation. Shadow and Sonic both spun themselves up and charged right at each other, colliding with each other but still kept running forwards, not making any progress as they budded heads and kicked up dirt and debris into the air from their feet moving around at a high velocity. They continued on like this for about a minute, not saying a word or making any progress whatsoever. They simply kept running at each other, staring each other down until they both pushed away from each other and stopped running, sliding backward as they skidded on the ground.

The two hedgehogs then ran back towards each other, but Shadow started to throw punches and kicks at Sonic again, while Sonic retaliated with punches and kicks of his own. Shadow anticipated every move from Sonic, blocking everything Sonic threw at him, but Sonic did much of the same, blocking everything Shadow threw at him. They went back and forth like this for a minute, blocking each other until Sonic landed a swift punch at Shadow's head, launching Shadow backward as he slid backward on the ground.

"Giving up already?" mocked Sonic as he walked towards Shadow, lying down on the ground while groaning in pain. "I thought you were better than that."

"Not quite," stated Shadow as he jumped back to his feet and dashed instantly at Sonic, spinning himself in midair as he homed in on Sonic's chest. Sonic flew back as Shadow made contact with him, barely able to land on his feet as he skidded on the ground, nearly scraping his knees on the gravel as well. Before Sonic could fully regain his concentration, Shadow rolled into Sonic again, striking Sonic harder than the first time while managing to knock out two of the Chaos Emeralds out of his possession. Shadow grabbed the closest one near him, grasping it in his hands as he started to run towards the second emerald, only to be stopped by Sonic as he took the second emerald, colliding and running in place with Shadow as the two hedgehogs both held three Chaos Emeralds in their hands.

"So, that makes us even now," smirked Shadow, staring down at Sonic's blood red eyes as he continued to bud heads with Sonic.

"We'll see about that," scowled Sonic, as he started to pick up the pace of his running, even though he was going nowhere with Shadow running against him. Shadow then started to run faster as well, matching Sonic's speed as the pace of their feet started to make a groove in the floor, kicking up dust and debris. Eventually, the grooves in the floor were starting to make the two hedgehogs sink into the ground, so Shadow pushed away from Sonic, forcing both of them back as they stopped and stood in the middle of the ruins, taking the opportunity to catch their breaths.

Shadow brought out the newly acquired white emerald, the one he had started out with in the forest for what felt like a long time ago, as he drew up some of the energy from the emerald. He felt the energy absorb into his bones and muscles, slowly rejuvenating him as an aura of energy started to form around his body. As Shadow began to step back towards Sonic, his mind felt fresh and awakened, standing more confidently at Sonic. "You ready to come against me now?" boasted Shadow.

Sonic ran towards Shadow almost out of instinct, but Shadow blocked Sonic as he was about to lunge an attack at him, hitting him in the face. Shadow jumped at Sonic and grabbed him as they both flew towards one of the stone pillars of the ruins, crashing right through the pillar like twigs, sending debris in all directions as the two hedgehogs fell out of the ruins and back into the forest.

Sonic was barely able to get back onto his feet when Shadow ran back up to Sonic and grabbed him by the throat, grasping it in a chokehold. Sonic knocked Shadow's hand out of the way and started grappling with Shadow again, as the two traded punches back and forth. Sonic managed to punch Shadow right across the face, stunning Shadow as he stood in a daze for only a second, but it was enough time for Sonic to grab Shadow and wrestle him down into the dirt. After Shadow landed on the ground, Sonic went to punch Shadow through the dirt, but Shadow rolled out of the way of Sonic's attack right as Sonic's fist hit the ground. Shadow jumped back on his feet and grappled with Sonic once again.

Shadow wrestled with Sonic for a few moments, pushing and shoving him while planting his feet into the ground, until Sonic started to dig his claws into Shadow's skin, making Shadow hit Sonic's chest with his knee, breaking Sonic away from Shadow as he groaned in agony. Realizing that Sonic was out of focus, Shadow ran towards Sonic and punched him directly in the face, sending Sonic into a daze as he clumsily stepped backward and then fell straight back onto the ground. Shadow immediately ran towards Sonic and pinned him down with his knee, grabbing the closest rock he could find.

Sonic lied down motionless on the ground, gazing blankly at Shadow. Shadow paused as he held the rock up in the air, feeling Sonic's heavy breaths. "Sonic… forgive me…"

As Shadow threw down the rock towards Sonic's head, Sonic woke up from his gaze and grabbed Shadow's hands right before the rock struck his face, wrestling with Shadow until Sonic managed to throw the rock out of Shadow's hands and away from the two hedgehogs. "You should have killed me when you had the chance," mocked Sonic.

Shadow ignored Sonic, as he swung a punch at Sonic's head, but Sonic blocked the punch and swung Shadow's arm out of the way, making Shadow step back from Sonic while nearly losing his balance. Sonic quickly spun himself and struck Shadow right in the chest, sending Shadow flying back, hitting on the trees as he slid down to the ground.

As Shadow struggled to get himself back on his feet, Sonic started to draw up some more power from his Chaos Emeralds, grasping them firmly in his hands as a black aura of energy enveloped around Sonic. Sonic threw his fist down onto the ground, as the ground around the two hedgehogs began to shake, while cracks started to form between Sonic and Shadow. Soon, a small pit of lava formed between Sonic and Shadow, slowly growing bigger as the aura of dark energy grew larger around Sonic.

Shadow drew in a deep breath and darted towards Sonic on the other side of the lava pit, jumping across the lava pit and landing right on the edge of the other side of the ground. Shadow kept his footing but could feel the heat of the lava behind him as lava pit started to grow bigger and bigger.

"You just don't know when to quit, do you?" joked Sonic. "I'll show you once and for all not to mess with me anymore!"

Shadow ignored Sonic, and instead ran straight up to him, battling with Sonic as he punched and threw himself at him endlessly. Shadow managed to grab Sonic and hold him up in the air, then punched him hard enough for Sonic to get launched across the fields a good distance away. Sonic quickly got back up and rushed towards Shadow, lunging himself at Shadow only to be blocked by Shadow's arm, as Shadow tossed Sonic aside. Sonic leapt back up and grappled with Shadow, wrestling back and forth as a small cliff started to form beneath their feet, as the cliff they were both on started to rise.

Sonic landed a punch straight across Shadow's face, causing him to lose his balance and fall down on the edge of the platform, as Shadow was barely able to stop himself by going over, skidding his feet down on the ground as hard as he could. As Shadow stopped sliding, Sonic walked over nearby to Shadow, grinning menacingly as he looked down at Shadow. "Time to finish this!" he mocked.

As Sonic raised his foot up to push away at Shadow, Shadow kicked Sonic in the stomach and sent him flying away until he hit the ground. The two laid down across from one another, both struggling to get up from the ground, exhausted and out of breath. Shadow leaned forward as he stared down at Sonic, breathing in and out very heavily. Sonic did the same, waiting for the next move to come by. Eventually, Sonic dashed towards Shadow, and Shadow reacted by dashing towards Sonic, moving closer to each other until the two collided, bouncing off each other as they crashed towards the ground.

Sonic got up immediately and rushed towards Shadow, who was still down on the ground. He noticed Sonic run up to him as he was about to get up himself, and as Sonic jumped on Shadow, Shadow rolled with Sonic towards the edge of the cliff, nearly falling off until he stopped in his tracks, but let the momentum of Sonic's attack push Sonic forward and off the edge of the cliff, sending him barreling down towards the lava.

Shadow heard the deafening screams from Sonic as he fell downwards, quickly getting up from the ground to see where he went. Shadow breathed heavily in and out, clenching his fist as Sonic disappeared from sight. "It's all over, then…" Shadow spoke quietly as he turned around from the lava, unable to look down where Sonic fell any further.

As Shadow started to slowly walk away from the edge of the cliff, he could hear out in the distance maniacal laughter, instantly catching Shadow's attention as he turned around. He could see nothing in the distance, except for the lava down below. A few moments later, he noticed a bright object rise from near the lava, and tripped up when the object came zooming by his face, falling backwards on the ground.

Sonic rose in front of Shadow, floating in the air as he held four Chaos Emerald s in hands – the purple, light blue, dark blue, and now the red emerald, as Sonic mockingly gloated in front of Shadow. "The red emerald feels much stronger than the other ones… I can really feel the power of the Chaos Emeralds now," snickered Sonic, gazing at his four emeralds. He then looked over to Shadow, who was now crestfallen in despair seeing Sonic with the emeralds, and instantly zoomed down towards where Shadow was, getting up to his face.

Sonic grabbed Shadow by the throat and threw him towards the forest, as Shadow skidded on the ground as he landed, barely reacting in time to avoid hitting the trees. Sonic ran up to Shadow and punched Shadow before he could dodge him, sending him flying again towards the trees, hitting the trees before he had the chance to reach the ground. Sonic pounded the ground, shaking up the earth around each other as the trees nearby Shadow fell down like twigs, breaking up with the ground around it as lava started to flow into the area, catching some of the trees on fire. The fire quickly spread throughout the forest, engulfing the sky ablaze in blinding heat.

Shadow managed to catch up to Sonic and struck Sonic a few times in the chest, but the attacks did little to slow down Sonic as he wrestled with Shadow while the forest around them started to burn down. Eventually, Sonic grabbed one of Shadow's arms and before Shadow had a chance to react, Sonic twisted the arm behind Shadow's back, and pushed him down towards the rocks in the ground, heated up tremendously by the heat of the flames and the lava in the area. Sonic pressed Shadow's face against the heated rocks, causing Shadow to scream in excruciating pain as the searing heat spread throughout Shadow's face, scalding his skin and fur down to the nerves of his body.

While Shadow could do nothing but scream in agony, Sonic grabbed the Chaos Emeralds held in Shadow's possession, grasping them one by one until Sonic held all seven Chaos Emeralds in his hands. As Sonic obtained the last Chaos Emerald, Sonic let go of Shadow and left Shadow on the rock, as Sonic gazed at his Chaos Emeralds.

Shadow turned back and noticed the seven Chaos Emeralds floating around Sonic, as Shadow's heart sunk in despair, while Sonic gloated menacingly.

"Nothing can possibly stop me now," shouted Sonic triumphantly, as his voice started to thunder in the sky. "Soon I will be the most powerful being in the world! And nobody can bring me down, not even you, faker!"

Shadow growled as he stumbled his way up to his feet, feeling his energy being zapped away by the second, while Sonic started to levitate off the ground, absorbing some of the energy from Shadow.

"It's no use fighting anymore," smiled Sonic, as the hairs of his fur started to stand up. "I have the power to control your life as I see fit! And since you've managed to survive this long, I intend to keep you as my slave…" Sonic cackled uncontrollably, feeling the energy soak into his bones. He held his hand up in the air as a ball of energy formed, releasing it just as Shadow was about to move out of the way, blasting directly at Shadow and pushing him back as Shadow fell back on the rock, rolling off it to avoid being burned again.

Sonic steadily started to rise from the ground as the Chaos Emeralds started to spin around him in increasing velocity, as the veins started to pop out of his arms and hands, all while Sonic was becoming increasingly giddy, almost to the point that he was losing awareness of the area around him, only focusing on his strengthening powers. Soon, Sonic's dark fur started to turn into a bright shade of yellow, darker than the shade of the sun risen fully in the sky. Sonic's uncontrollable laughter turned into a cascade of fury echoing all across the remains of the forest, as stars of energy now swirled around Sonic constantly, moving wherever Sonic moved around. The swirls around Sonic's eyes were now thicker than ever, a brighter shade of red than the blood flowing in his body. Fangs now formed on Sonic's teeth, sharper than ever before.

Shadow could only watch at Sonic in despair, despite the fire raging on behind him. "What have I done?" he said quietly to himself, asking to nobody in particular.

Sonic was now more than a few feet above the sky, as his evil laughter echoed across the darkening sky, as clouds formed around where Sonic was. Sonic then let out a primal roar across the sky, flexing his arms and legs. He lifted his hand in the air and the ground directly below him moved around until there was a giant boulder in the air, levitating off the ground until Sonic waved his hand, sending the boulder flying as it hit against the ancient ruins, crashing against it as it collapsed into pieces.

Shadow started to run from where Sonic was as fast as he could, but with all the energy of the Chaos Emeralds gone from him, Shadow could run no faster than any other creature, unable to sprint away as he could do so in the past. He ducked down underneath a cave, jumping down as Sonic threw another boulder in his direction, smashing against the entrance of the cave just as Shadow went inside, keeping only a small amount of light beaming down as the entrance was blocked by the boulder sent by Sonic.

Sonic was now flying erratically in all kinds of directions, throwing more boulders and sending more energy shocks down to the trees, sparking more flames in the forest as the whole area was now completely ablaze. The ground continued to move and shake violently as Sonic unleashed his unrestrained wrath across the area, all while Shadow could do nothing but hide inside the cave, protected by the boulder blocking the entrance as he could not see outside, but could only cower in fear, hearing every last cackle from the possessed hedgehog.


	10. Chapter 10

Shadow had been hiding in the caves for what seemed like forever. Time was irrelevant to him, as he couldn't see any sunlight beam down from the sky, as it was covered by the darkening clouds, stirred up in anarchy. An hour inside felt like a day, and a minute felt like a second. Inside the caves, Shadow could do nothing but hide away in fear, hearing the meteorites crash down to the earth, rocking the ground around him time and time again.

The meteorites caused Shadow to venture deeper into the caves, not wanting to be near the entrance of the cave, in case one of the meteorites struck the boulder blocking the entrance. It meant venturing deeper into the darkness, with no light to guide Shadow, not an emerald in sight to give him a beacon to light his way. Shadow walked down slowly into the caves, not wanting to travel further but feeling no choice in the matter, seeing death as the only other alternative. So Shadow timidly pressed forward, even as rodents scurried around near his feet, startling him as they crawled near where he walked.

Shadow breathed heavily in and out, shivering at the cold and stale air inside. Shadow cautiously moved further into the caves, feeling an imminent threat ready to take him down, even with knowing that nobody followed him inside, and not knowing where the other end of the cave led to. Yet, even as he stumbled on all alone, Shadow couldn't help but feel the presence of someone else being inside the cave, watching him and drawing closer to him with each step he took. It felt like a silhouette closing in on him, steadily creeping closer and closer, ready to swallow him up whole without warning.

With Shadow unable to see anything in front of him, Shadow noticed a faint light into the distance carefully stepped closer towards the light, as it grew bigger as he drew nearer to it. As he got close to the light, he bumped into another hedgehog around the same height as him, and the hedgehog shrieked in terror, swiftly swiping at Shadow's face, gashing his face with its claws, as the light fell down to the ground.

"Get away from me!" yelled the female hedgehog, as it shriveled up her shoulders, shielding herself from Shadow.

Shadow stepped closer to the unknown creature, carefully trying his best not to startle her. "What's going on?" asked Shadow quietly to himself.

Before Shadow could fully decipher who it was in front of him, the female hedgehog punched Shadow in the face, causing not only a good amount of pain but also irritating Shadow at the same time, causing him to grow frustrated as he clenched his fist, stomping toward the hedgehog. As he got close again, the hedgehog attacked Shadow again, punching wildly and erratically at him.

"Get away!" yelled the female hedgehog, louder than before. "I'll kill you, I swear!" She kept swinging her fists in every direction at Shadow, throwing every last ounce of her power at him, leaving her short of breath. She yelled out unintelligible cries of rage, grunting furiously as Shadow tried to defend himself as best as he could, though cuts and bruises started to form around his face.

The female hedgehog then struck Shadow straight across the face, hitting her fist directly into Shadow's cheek bones, as it vibrated violently across his body. Shadow fell towards one of the walls of the caves, collapsing onto the stone wall as he groaned in torturous pain, as blood started to drip down from his mouth. He leaned on the wall as he slumped towards the ground, writhing in agony.

"Get out of my life, Sonic!" screamed the pink hedgehog, "I don't want to see you ever again! I don't even like you anymore!"

The pink hedgehog then timidly picked up the candle that she dropped and struck a match nearby, lighting up the candle again, as she shone the candle directly into Shadow's face.

"Shadow?" asked the pink hedgehog, as the candle started to light up the room more clearly. "Is that you? I thought you were… never mind."

Shadow ignored the pink hedgehog, as he was licking at the blood that was dripping onto his teeth. He grimaced as he leaned his back against the stone wall, hazily looking down on the ground, staring into space, at nothing in particular. "Who are you?" asked Shadow.

The pink hedgehog carefully sat down near Shadow, carefully double checking to see if she was talking to the right hedgehog. "You _are_ Shadow the Hedgehog, are you? I thought you were dead!"

Shadow shook his head as he continued to wipe off the blood from his mouth, staring at the floor. "Not dead enough, apparently. It seems everyone wants me dead."

The pink hedgehog got closer to Shadow's face, staring into his dark red eyes. "Where have you been all these years, Shadow? And how on earth did you find me here?"

Shadow lifted his face up and solemnly held his head, wiping his aching eyes. "I don't remember," he sighed. "I don't remember a damn thing before I got involved in this mess."

The pink hedgehog sighed, taking her eyes of Shadow as she glanced away into the distance. "Well, my name's Amy, and Sonic's held me hostage in this cave for the last few days. I don't remember how long exactly, but that's not important right now. Just get me out of here, Shadow, from where you entered from here."

"That's the problem," groaned Shadow, still holding his head. "The entrance is blocked by a meteorite, sent down by your friend a few moments ago."

"Great," snapped Amy, slamming down her fist with authority. "I know there's another way out of here, but there's a boulder that I can't move by myself." She then looked over to Shadow, showing a rare spark of hope in her eyes. "Maybe you can help guard me from Sonic as we get out," she suggested.

"Me?" asked Shadow, as his eyes lit up concerningly. "I don't know, every time I go up against that bastard -"

"It's the only chance we got," Amy interrupted, before Shadow could continue his sentence. "At least I'm not going down alone, now that you're here."

Shadow quietly nodded as he slowly got up from the ground, swallowing the remainder of the spilt blood inside his mouth. "Guess you've planned this out, then?"

Amy stood up near Shadow, wiping off the dirt from her tattered clothes. "I really don't want to talk about this right now. I just want to get out of this place."

The two hedgehogs walked together further into the caves, in the same direction that Shadow was travelling in before, as Amy led Shadow through the dark caves with only the candle in her hand. As Shadow slowly started to become used to the dim light of the caves, he could start to feel the air thickening inside, the damp atmosphere starting to chill him down to the bone.

Soon the two hedgehogs reached a huge boulder, not as big as the meteorite blocking the way that Shadow had come in, but clearly big enough to block the way forward. Without saying a word, Shadow laid his hands onto the boulder and pushed as hard as he could, barely budging the rock. Amy joined in with Shadow, shoving the boulder as it moved very slowly, until Shadow was able to turn the boulder slightly, dislodging the boulder from the dirt it was sitting on. With the dirt loosening up underneath the rock, Amy and Shadow managed to push the boulder further until it started to roll down the corridor until it hit the base of the stairs, splitting in half and creating a narrow passage for the two hedgehogs to go through.

"There, that should take care of that," said Amy, taking a few deep breaths. "This was always in the way whenever Sonic wasn't around."

As they both continued onward through the split boulder, Shadow could start to notice more light entering the caves, shining the way brighter until it outshone the candle Amy was holding in her hand. Eventually, they walked up the set of stairs and carefully stepped into the outdoors for the first time in what seemed like ages, as Amy protected her eyes from the few beams of sunlight with her hand. Amy stopped walking as Shadow nearly bumped into her, paying little attention to what Amy was doing. Amy searched around the area for a minute, scanning for anyone else nearby, but all that was around the two hedgehogs were ashes and burned down trees scattered around them. The whole surrounding area was desolated of any other forms of life, not even a flower or blade of grass in sight.

"This whole area was a garden that Sonic set up so that he would 'appease' me," sighed Amy. "But even that's all gone now. He's destroyed everything of value around here, took everything for himself and left nothing in its place. Nothing else could create so much destruction."

Shadow said nothing, only gazing on at the burned down forest around them, as the remaining tree bark was smoldering and smoking away. Shadow could only pick up a burnt branch from the ground, as it crumbled into ashes as he grabbed it, flaking away with the howling wind.

"It's strange," said Amy, looking around the burned forest. "Normally Sonic would have stopped me by now. Where did he go after burning down this place?" She paused for a few moments as Shadow continued to hold what was left of the log he tried to pick up. "Keep an eye out for him, Shadow. Sonic's planning some trick to attack us, I know it."

Shadow threw down what was left of the branch onto the scorched ground, as he turned towards Amy. "There's no sense waiting here, then. Let's make a run for it while we still have the chance."

Before Shadow was about to start running off, Amy looked behind her as she noticed someone limping around in pain, though Amy could barely make out what it was behind the rocks of the caves. "Wait a moment," insisted Amy. "I think someone needs our help."

"Hold on," yelled Shadow, turning back towards Amy. "It could be a trap!"

Amy ignored Shadow as she stumbled closer to where the exit of the caves was, and found Miles leaning against the wall behind a few rocks, heavily favouring one of his legs as his whole body was covered in gashes from head to toe. Amy ran towards Miles as he noticed Amy running towards him, jumping up as fast as he could while the two hugged each other tightly, not wanting to let each other go, as they joyfully embraced each other.

"Miles… I'm so glad you're alive," said Amy warmly to Miles.

"Me too," whispered Miles, as tears of joy spontaneously rolled down his face. He leaned his head onto Amy's shoulder for a moment before looking up to see Shadow, standing awkwardly in front of both of Miles and Amy, staring blankly and not knowing what to do or say. Miles brought his head up to fully face Shadow, staring just as blankly as Shadow was.

"He found me inside the caves," Amy said softly to Miles, nodding towards Shadow. "If it weren't for him I wouldn't have been able to get out of there."

Miles slowly raised his head from Amy's shoulder, adjusting his eyes from the tears that had filled up inside as he fixed his sight on Shadow, still standing blankly at Miles and Amy. Miles took his hands off Amy but still stood very close to her, leaning on one of his legs. "Thank you, Shadow," said Miles quietly.

Shadow said nothing in reply, opening and closing his eyes as his mind went completely blank. He turned away from Miles, too embarrassed to stand in silence anymore.

Amy nudged Miles gently, grabbing his attention away from Shadow as she leaned into Miles' ear. "What's the matter with him?" asked Amy. "He seems distant, unaware of what's going on around him. He didn't know who I was until I told him."

"That's the least of our worries," grumbled Miles. "We just need to regroup and find a way to get back at Sonic before it's too late." After saying this, Miles' leg twitched up, as he grimaced around trying to make his own way back to the rock wall.

Amy immediately wrapped one of her arms around Miles' shoulder, letting his weight lean onto her own. "You obviously need some rest, Miles. At least let try to make you better."

"I should be the one telling you that!" shouted Miles jokingly. "You've been gone for how long? I was worried sick about you! Don't you need some food, water, anything?"

Shadow cautiously walked up to where Miles and Amy were stumbling towards, but Miles turned back and coldly glared at Shadow, not saying a word back. Shadow stepped away from Miles as Miles and Amy both went towards the rock wall and both leaned their backs onto the wall, resting their heads on the rocks as Miles took a few deep breaths.

After sitting quietly for a few moments, Miles opened up his eyes, as Shadow stood in the middle of the scorched fields, away from earshot the two. "The sooner we get him out of here, the better. He's the one that caused this mess in the first place. Sonic got injured by Robotnik, and Shadow gave him some of his plasma, screwing Sonic up to make him turn evil."

Amy glared at Miles, raising her eyebrow as she grew more skeptical by the second. "How can that be true?"

"What do you think?" snapped Miles, being careful not to alarm Shadow nearby. "He put some of his own unnatural blood into Sonic, who had normal blood up until now. Then when the two mixed together, it turned Sonic into heartless monster… just like him."

"Miles," demanded Amy, "there's no way Shadow could have singlehandedly turned Sonic into a demon. Not from what I understand about the Chaos Emeralds. There's pictures inside the gardens that depicted what the Chaos Emeralds do to someone. I think that might have more to do with what happened to Sonic more than anything Shadow might have done."

Miles shrugged his shoulders in frustration, letting out a large groan. "What do the Chaos Emeralds have to do with this? This better not be some nonsense Sonic brainwashed you with."

"Would I ever lie to you?" snarled Amy. "I can show you what I mean if you insist."

Miles lowered his head, shaking his head in defeat. "Fine, but I promise you, I'm still not going to forgive Shadow for what he did to Sonic. I would rather Sonic have died in the battle with Robotnik, rather than have him live to become the villain."

Without saying another word, Amy and Miles both stood up from the wall, limping towards the middle of what remained of the garden, filled with nothing but ashes and rocks encircling the area. Shadow tried to get Miles' attention, but Miles ignored Shadow completely, not even glancing at Shadow as he stumbled past him, leaning on Amy for support. Shadow glumly lowered his hand in despair, finding a soft patch of dirt to sit down on as he moved around the ashes with his hand, feeling the flakes of ash roll down his fingers.

Amy got near one of the stones buried in the ground, depicting a picture in front of her and Miles. "See that? That's the original Chao Garden, where the Chaos Emeralds were first created. There, you can see seven gems inscribed onto the drawing, all in perfect symmetry to each other. There's no way this was done by hand, Miles. The precision of these carvings are stunning. They're too perfect to be chiseled out by one person."

"Are you suggesting something else made these carvings?" asked Miles.

"Knuckles told me once that there's some mythical force powering the Chaos Emeralds, giving whoever holds them immense powers, so it's not out of the question that it could very well give someone the means to create these carvings many years ago. If you look at them further, you'll see that the Emeralds can control someone out of their own will. So someone could be told by the Emeralds to make these accurate carvings, and they can also be told to do any of their commands – start a fire, shake up the earth, even go out and kill someone, even someone they loved."

Miles stood bewildered, puzzled, scratching his head as he glanced at the carvings inside the rocks. "How does this have anything to do with Sonic?"

"See that?" asked Amy, pointing at the mythical creature in the carvings surrounded by the seven Chaos Emeralds. "That's the first creature possessed by the Chaos Emeralds – Chaos himself. It was a being created by the Chao to protect the Chao, and the Chaos Emeralds were how the Chao could communicate directly with Chaos himself. That's pretty much how Sonic is being controlled right now, Miles – the Chaos Emeralds are controlling him directly, just like Chaos all those years ago. Remember when Chaos nearly destroyed Station Square? That was Chaos unleashing his wrath onto the whole world. The Chaos Emeralds were the driving force behind Chaos' wrath during that time, and it's the same force driving Sonic into evil now."

"That still doesn't explain why Shadow's blood turned Sonic into an evil monster," scowled Miles, catching the attention of Shadow, who was sitting a good distance away from Amy and Miles, not hearing the whole sentence Miles had spoken.

"Sonic was knocked unconscious, right? That's what I heard right before I saw Sonic for the first time since all this began. If you're correct in saying that Shadow gave some of his own blood, that might have been different from Sonic's own blood. But there was a Chaos Emerald with Sonic, right? I remember Sonic having one when he first kidnapped me. When Sonic woke up after being attacked by Robotnik, the Chaos Emerald must have taken advantage of his barely conscious state and controlled him from that point onwards."

Amy walked over towards the next carving, standing right over it with Miles. "Here's another carving. There, you can see a figure being woken up by the power of the Chaos Emeralds, channeling his thoughts right there at the moment. Sonic kept talking to me constantly about getting revenge at Robotnik for what he did to him, not just what happened recently, but throughout the last few years. When he woke up from his daze, he must have been thinking about what to do next when the Chaos Emerald tapped into his mind, and the Emeralds probably took advantage of this and channeled the dark energy into Sonic, working with him to satisfy his own evil needs. But the Emeralds are only interested in one thing – to destroy all life on this planet. That's what the last carving illustrates, Miles. It's the only one that depicts a future event, the destruction of everything around us. That's what Sonic's going to do to us, Miles, if we don't act soon!"

Miles stepped back from the carvings, drawing heavy breaths as he stared at the stones near his feet. "Just so we're clear on all this, Ames… You're telling me that the Emeralds were controlling Sonic from the moment we got a hold of the Emeralds?"

"It would appear to be the case," replied Amy, shaking her head in despair. "The Emeralds have all tried to use someone to take over the whole world. First it was Chaos himself, then it was Shadow a few years ago, but now they've taken over Sonic, the one who managed to stop both of them. It wasn't Shadow's blood that could have possessed Sonic, because Chaos had no blood to speak of, so the blood that Sonic had shouldn't matter. It was the Chaos Emerald that he had nearby at the time that started to possess him, and it snowballed from there."

Shadow carefully walked up to where Miles and Amy were, looking at the stone carvings. "So it's… not my fault?"

"No, it's not," assured Amy, looking over toward Shadow. "It wasn't your fault what happened a few years ago on the Ark, and it wasn't your fault what's going on right now with Sonic."

Shadow looked down onto the stone carvings, analyzing them in great detail as Miles turned towards Amy, still favouring one of his legs. The two stood there quietly, as Shadow solemnly stepped back from the carvings, hanging his head low. He kept to himself, standing silently with only the wind blowing behind them to provide any company.

Amy turned back and caught a glimpse of Shadow, as he looked up at Miles and Amy, as they kept looking at each other waiting for the other to say something.

Shadow eventually gulped as he nervously started to speak up to Amy. "So what does this all mean, then?"

"About what?"

"About Sonic," grumbled Shadow. "What is he planning to do?"

Amy shook her head. "I don't know. But it can't be good."

Before Amy could continue any further, the skies above the three rapidly darkened, startling Miles as he glared at the clouds. "Something's brewing up there… we should get out of here."

"Where will we go?" asked Amy, walking along with Miles as he hobbled away from the stone carvings.

"If we're going to find out where Sonic is right now," explained Miles, "we have to get to the Master Emerald. It isn't far from here, but we have to hurry. We'll take the Tornado."

Even though the skies were now pitch black, as rainclouds imminently started to break, nobody protested as the three started to run towards the Tornado 3, even as Miles was hindered by his hurt leg, limping as fast as he could towards his plane.

As they all jumped inside, Miles hurriedly fired up the engines of the Tornado 3 and took the plane up to speed in an instant, lifting off shortly afterward. With the plane up in the air, Amy was able to glance around the surrounding area of the Marble Gardens, burned down to a crisp, with not a single tree left standing in the inferno.

Miles checked the onboard map on the dashboard of the Tornado 3, but was quickly distracted by a series of alarms blaring off in front of him, barely giving Miles a chance to check them all properly. "All the weather instruments are flying off the charts!" shouted Miles over the roaring engines. "I'll have to stay low so that I don't get caught up in the wind near the clouds."

While the plane started to shake in the wind, Amy turned around and saw robots closing in on the Tornado 3, startling Amy as she tugged at Miles' arm. "Watch out behind you!" she shouted.

Shadow stood up from his seat in the plane as he started to carefully climb out of the moving plane. "Let me take care of this," he insisted.

"While the Tornado is in the air?" yelled Amy. "Are you nuts?"

Shadow said nothing in reply, as he swatted away at one of the robots as it moved closer, gently hitting one of the wings on the plane as the robot dropped down towards the ground, never to be seen again. Shadow carefully got on top of the wings of the Tornado, managing to balance himself even as Miles was moving around the Tornado with the ever-changing wind.

"Don't turn the plane too sharply," warned Shadow, as he managed to stand fully on his feet at the center of the wings of the Tornado 3.

"I'll try not to," replied Miles, keeping an eye on the view in front of him. "It's not the first time I had someone ride on top of this plane."

Before Miles could continue his conversation any further, more robots went near Shadow and drew their arms up, ready to fire their weapons at Shadow. Shadow jumped up and homed in on the robots in mid-air, and managed to land back on the plane as Miles moved to where Shadow was about to land, still continuing his pace towards Angel Island and the Master Emerald, though as Shadow landed, the Tornado 3 shook around slightly, startling Miles as he gently slowed down the speed of the Tornado 3, reducing the amount the plane was shaking around in the wind.

Shadow noticed two more robots closing in on the Tornado 3, and swung around to knock down one of the robots with his foot, disintegrating the robot instantly. The second one managed to latch onto Shadow from behind his back, so Shadow wrestled with the robot to try to pry it out of his body, but found no luck in doing so. The robot then dug a needle into the back of Shadow's neck, as it started to suck out blood from him, leaving Shadow writing in pain while nearly falling off from the wings of the Tornado, distracted by his battle. He managed to step onto the wings before he fell off, but the close call managed to get the robot's needle sink even further into Shadow, as Shadow screamed out in agony, dropping down onto his knees while the robot stayed attached to Shadow's neck.

Amy stood up from her seat in the Tornado as she had trouble keeping balance with the Tornado moving around with the wind. "Jump here, Shadow!" yelled out Amy, as the rushing wind blew into her face.

Shadow went towards the cockpit area of the Tornado without hesitation, landing right in front of Amy as the robot went along with Shadow. The Tornado 3 wobbled around as Shadow landed back in the cockpit, forcing Miles to adjust his steering, keeping the plane level as best as he could. Still, the plane was jostled enough to lurch Amy and Shadow forward as they fell forwards inside the cockpit, all while the robot was still stuck on Shadow's neck.

"Get this thing off me!" demanded Shadow, frantically reaching behind his back in desperation.

Amy got back upright inside the cockpit as she grabbed onto the robot and yanked the robot and needle out of Shadow's neck, dripping drops of blood as it came out. As Amy held the robot in her hands, she glanced at it for a couple of seconds before realizing that it was still squirming about while she held onto it, and threw it out of the plane in disgust. She turned her attention back to Shadow, who was rubbing his neck, still sore as a small trickle of blood still remained on his neck.

"I thought Sonic took out all the robots," scowled Shadow at Miles, as he started to wipe off the blood from his neck.

"I thought he did, too," yelled Miles over the hums of the plane's engines. "Sonic must have taken some and deployed them himself. It's the only explanation I can think of."

Before Miles could speculate any further, Miles started to hear some rattling from the wings of the Tornado 3, which then spread throughout the entire plane within seconds. Miles then felt small objects fall onto his head, and found hailstones accumulating inside the cockpit.

"A hailstorm?" wondered Miles out loud. "Just about everything's happened lately!"

But as Miles pressed forward inside the Tornado 3, the amount of hail started to accumulate, as more hailstones started pounding the plane. Both Amy and Shadow ducked inside the cockpit and put their hands over their head in a desperate attempt to protect themselves, but the hailstones still found a way to land on top of them. As time progressed, the hailstones started to get bigger as they rained down on the plane, growing into the size of golfballs as each hailstone started to pound all three of the passengers inside the plane, pelting them with each passing minute.

The hailstones not only hit the passengers inside the plane, but also started to make dents on the Tornado 3 as well, hitting the wings, the propeller, and every part of the plane. Small dents formed all around the plane as the hailstones kept raining down, all while the wind was blowing against the direction the plane was headed, significantly slowing down the speed that the Tornado 3 was travelling at, slowing their arrival at the Master Emerald.

While Shadow and Amy were able to have some of the hailstones bounce off their hands and have some of them not land on their head, Miles was left steering the plane of the Tornado 3 and was left virtually unprotected against the hailstorm, as hailstones kept pounding his head and body, giving him bruises and cuts as Miles continued forward in the plane. But as they started to see Angel Island in the distance, the hailstones started to pound through the wings of the Tornado 3, creating holes in the wings and significantly reducing the maneuverability of the plane, as it started to sink downwards into the ground.

Miles wrestled with all his strength to keep the plane level to the ground, but the plane kept descending downwards, having no lift to keep the plane up, and with the hailstones now getting inside the engine bay, the engines were now having a tough time keeping itself running. Eventually, the engines seized up completely, putting the plane into a freefall as Miles struggled to keep the plane afloat.

Shadow and Amy held onto the sides of the plane while the Tornado 3 dove towards the forests surrounding Angel Island, rapidly losing altitude as Miles managed to bring the plane out of a nosedive, but still carrying speed as it went towards the ground. He was able to slow down the plane a bit, but it wasn't enough for him to stop the plane from crashing into the thick forest, bouncing from tree to tree as it skidded on the dirt, getting one of its wings chopped off by the trees before colliding head first with another tree, grinding to a sudden halt as the three passengers lurched forward as the plane crashed. Amy bumped into Shadow and Shadow bumped into Miles, but Miles bashed his head against the plane's dashboard, knocking him out as he lied motionless on the dashboard, leaning his head towards one side.

Amy ran out of the plane towards Miles, as Shadow hovered near Miles in a panic.

"Wake up, Tails!" shouted Shadow, as he lifted Miles' head off from the side of the plane. Shadow searched all around the plane for a cloth as blood poured down onto his hands from Miles' head, while Miles lied in a daze, barely maintaining consciousness.

Amy reached into the back of the cockpit and without saying a word, grabbed a small towel and wrapped it around where the blood was dripping from Miles' head. Ensuring that the towel was tightly wrapped around Miles' head, she gently took ahold of Miles' head as she leaned his seat back, while Miles hazily lied down on the outstretched seat.

Shadow could only watch on in horror as Miles lied still in his seat, gazing up into the darkening skies, while Amy kept close by to Miles. "Don't go… please," whispered Shadow quietly, silently pleading under his breath.

After Amy ensured that the towel was snugly wrapped around Miles' head, Shadow and Amy carefully brought out Miles from the cockpit and led him towards another tree, leaning him against the trunk of the tree. Miles was slowly coming to from the trauma, barely able to keep his eyes open, but was able to keep his head up, even if it was leaning against the trunk of the tree.

While Shadow could only look on at Miles, Amy sat down beside Miles, gently rubbing his head, relaxing Miles as his heavy breathing started to subside. Amy then turned her head at Shadow as Shadow kept staring blankly at Miles, standing still and at a loss of what to do for him.

"You go ahead and get to the Master Emerald," said Amy to Shadow. "I'll take care of Miles here. He's been hurt, but he should live. Go to the Emerald, Shadow, see where Sonic is. You'll be able to track him down faster than we can."

Shadow continued to stare blankly at Miles and Amy. "Are you sure? But he's hurt…"

"I'll take care of him," insisted Amy. "Get to the Emerald."

Shadow quietly nodded as he slowly stepped away from Miles and Amy, leaving the two alone in the woods, as Shadow moved away from the wreckage of the Tornado 3 and towards the Master Emerald, all while the skies were now pitch black, covered with storm clouds all over the daytime skies. Shadow quickly ran up to the small island containing the Altar of the Emeralds, as he rapidly ran up the stairs of the altar towards the Master Emerald, safely contained inside the platform of the altar.

As Shadow approached the top of the stairs of the altar, the Master Emerald was still shining brightly, completely intact, but Knuckles was leaning face first on the Emerald with his arms spread out on the Emerald, spreading out his body as much as he could. Shadow went over to Knuckles and nudged him lightly, noticing that his body felt cold to the touch. He was able to turn Knuckles over to find him bleeding from his stomach, as the blood had spilled over towards the Master Emerald around where Knuckles was hunched over.

Knuckles slipped down from the Master Emerald and lied still on the ground, breathing heavily as he continued to bleed from his stomach. Shadow moved towards Knuckles to try to revive him, but Knuckles put his hand onto Shadow's arm, gently pushing him away.

"There's no point in saving me, Shadow," whispered Knuckles quietly, speaking with all of his strength. "But go to the Emerald. See where Sonic is right now, before it's too late. And take as much power from it as you can to help defeat him."

Shadow closely approached the Master Emerald and saw his own reflection staring back at him, as Shadow gazed into the emerald, searching for any trace of Sonic's whereabouts. As Shadow laid his hand onto the Master Emerald, he could sense Sonic hovering above him, overseeing the altar. Shadow quickly turned around, ready to battle with Sonic, but found nobody there, and turned his attention back to the Master Emerald. He felt Sonic's presence back again, feeling that Sonic was close to him, but also sensing that he was controlling the land from far away, far above from where he was standing.

Shadow turned towards Knuckles and saw him bleeding helplessly, as Shadow hung his head in shame at the sight of his wounded ally. He looked away from Knuckles only to find seven greyed out emeralds lying in the field in front of the altar, hidden in plain sight as they blended in with the ground and dirt. Shadow walked over to the greyed emeralds and picked up one of them, unable to figure out which one was which, as they had all been turned to the same dull colour.

As Shadow grasped one of the emeralds in his hand, he couldn't help but shake his head in despair. "All the energy is gone from the emeralds… all its life is drained out completely."

"Not exactly," ached Knuckles, barely able to raise his voice to catch Shadow's attention. "I still feel some of the positive power from the emeralds. I can sense it, Shadow. What Sonic has done with the emeralds is take all the negative power from them – all the powers of anarchy and disorder that one person can possess. But the powers that produce bravery and heroism are still there. I can feel it, Shadow."

Shadow took a closer look at the Chaos Emerald he was holding in his hand, grasping it more firmly as he tried to sense the powers for himself. At that moment, he could feel energy absorbing back into his body, as the other emeralds started to float up and spiral around Shadow.

Knuckles looked on in amazement as the seven greyed out Chaos Emeralds started to generate more energy around Shadow, as Knuckles let out a small smile, even as his own will to live was starting to fade. "It's all coming together now… Sonic has brought evil with his newfound powers. Shadow will bring peace here again."

Shadow looked back at Knuckles as the two met each other's eyes one last time, as Knuckles leaned over to one side and passed out, while his breathing slowed to a halt. Shadow could see that Knuckles had stopped breathing, and Shadow sighed heavily as the emeralds continued to spiral around him. But shortly afterward, Shadow looked up to the skies as a small hole in the darkened clouds formed above him, clearing a path for Shadow to break through to.

"This is my only chance to end this once and for all," announced Shadow to himself as he felt more energy flow into his body from the Chaos Emeralds. "I've got to keep fighting, not only for myself but for those who have fought for peace and freedom. This is who I am."

Shadow closed his eyes as he let the emerald in his hand float with the rest of the emeralds, and grasped his fists as he drew more energy around himself, while the Chaos Emeralds were now spinning at a rapid pace. An aura of light started to surround Shadow as he could feel his body becoming lighter and nimbler, gaining more strength by the second. At once, Shadow unleashed a burst of light from his body, turning his fur into a bright shade of white, emanating a golden ring of energy around him. Shadow was now floating above the ground on his own power and felt a new sense of motivation and confidence around him, determined to defeat the evil in front of him.

"Wherever you are, Sonic, I'm coming for you!" Shadow shouted, blasting off into the skies above, rising from the Master Emerald's altar and up through the small hole in the clouds, rising high above the skies as he ascended through the clouds, making himself visible through the darkened skies all across the land. Amy watched on at Shadow from afar, gaining a new sense of hope around her, even as the skies were falling around her.

Miles, sitting on a tree beside Amy, started to come to as he noticed a bright light rising up in the sky, but he couldn't tell who it was as his vision was all blurred from the trauma he received. Amy felt Miles wake up and quickly met his eyes, putting her hand on his face.

"Amy…" said Miles quietly. "You're still here…"

"Of course I'm still here," replied Amy. "I wouldn't leave you, not like this."

Miles glanced past Amy as he started to notice the skies starting to darken quickly, while the hole in the sky that Shadow went through sealed and closed up, completely enveloping the whole sky in complete darkness, with not a shred of light passing through. "You should have… found somewhere to hide… but you stayed here."

"I didn't want to leave you behind," said Amy, giving a small but comforting smile back. She continued to look at Miles warmly, doing everything she could to comfort him.

"I would have done the same thing for you," said Miles, as he started to smile warmly as well. "I love you, Amy."

Amy's heart melted with Miles as she went over to Miles and kissed him lightly on the lips, while Miles brought his arm over Amy's shoulders and kissed back in reply, not wanting to let each other go.

They both released their lips as Miles started to breathe heavily, nearly choking up with emotion. "If we're going to die here, Amy… I wouldn't think of anyone else to spend my last moments with."

Amy glanced away towards the altar as the gravity of the tender moment with Miles started to weigh heavily on her, drawing her attention back to the impending doom and gloom hanging over their heads. "I don't want this to end, Miles. I mean, being with you. I don't want to stop loving you, Miles. I can't imagine a moment without knowing you're there with me."

Miles and Amy were glumly looking at each other when the ground around them started to shake violently, as the skies turned a dark, bloody shade of red, while thunderstorms started to brew up and the wind instantly picked up and started to swirl around them. Amy grabbed onto Miles and hid her face in his chest, terrified to look up into the sky. Miles held Amy firmly in his own arms, shutting his eyes and moving his head down, ready to accept his own fate. He wouldn't leave Amy's side, not by a long shot.


	11. Chapter 11

While standing on top of a building, Sonic pushed his hands forward as a huge tidal wave went straight into the crowd of horrified people, running for their lives as Sonic chuckled joyfully. He had been doing this continually for the last few hours, as all of the citizens had dispersed from their homes, either managing to get out of the city or succumbing to Sonic's wrath.

Sonic watched from above what remained of Station Square, as every street was flooded and covered in water. Every last building had its windows shattered and broken into, and showed signs of decay and heavy damage. There wasn't a building in sight that wasn't affected by Sonic's menacing attack, as the entirety of Station Square was left in ruins.

"Beautiful," grinned Sonic, as his eyes drifted back and forth between his bright yellow fur and his path of destruction laid out in front of him. "Everything's going exactly as planned. Soon I will get rid of everything that is of no use to me. And I will build a new world as I see fit, just as things should have been in the first place." His attention then turned to the rising tide, starting to swallow up over the sidewalks and above the doors of the buildings below him. "This meaningless city will be underwater in a short amount of time. I'll move on to the next one shortly."

"Not if I can help it," shouted Shadow, floating behind Sonic, as his golden-white fur emanated an aura of bright energy around him, making it difficult for Sonic to see Shadow clearly. "Your time as a villain will soon come to an end!"

Sonic was able to focus his eyes onto Shadow, as he started to scowl in anger. "How is it possible that you're still alive, faker? Why can't you just die?"

"Who says I'm the fake one?" said Shadow, managing to crack a small grin. "You're no different than all the other bad guys I've stopped."

"We'll see about that," growled Sonic, as he clenched his fists, staring straight at Shadow. "The power of the Chaos Emeralds have made me the most powerful being on the planet. Nothing will ever stop me."

Shadow didn't say a word, but gently landed himself down onto the roof of the building that Sonic was standing on, as they stood directly across from each other. Shadow stared down at Sonic very intensely, readying himself to attack as Sonic also did the same, tensing his muscles as he stood in a stance, ready to pounce in an instant.

"So?" mocked Sonic, as the two hedgehogs stood impatiently still. "Are you gonna fight, or what?"

"I thought you'd never ask," yelled Shadow, as he instantly darted off towards Sonic, while Sonic braced the impact of Shadow's attack with his energy, even as Shadow barreled at Sonic at full speed. Shadow eventually stepped away, letting the energy disperse into the air.

"You think you're more powerful than me?" taunted Sonic. "I've taken all the energy of the Chaos Emeralds, so anything you have bounces right off me!"

"I don't know about that," replied Shadow, as he generated a ball of light in his hands. "The emeralds that you left behind with Knuckles were just as powerful, if not more."

"How can that be possible?" yelled Sonic, shaking his head. "I've taken every last ounce of energy from those emeralds. Nothing was left behind, not even the colour of the emeralds themselves."

Shadow then brought up the ball of light that he had generated, growing it exponentially. "Well, then how do you explain this?" he shouted, sending the beam of light straight at Sonic. Sonic blocked the light with his arms, but the light managed to push Sonic back towards the edge of the roof, nearly pushing him off until Sonic broke free from the beam of light, dispersing it away from his body.

Sonic glared back at Shadow as Shadow started to generate another beam of light, while Sonic started to sprint forward. Without saying another word, Sonic sprinted at Shadow, and managed to knock Shadow off his feet before he could generate enough force to place an attack at Sonic. Shadow responded by swinging his fists at Sonic, landing blows at Sonic's head and chest, while Sonic started to do the same thing to Shadow, as the two battled furiously at each other, each landing one punch after another on each other.

Sonic managed to snag at Shadow's neck, lifting him up into the air before swinging him back down towards the roof, crashing him through the building as cement and steel and bricks flew in every direction, creating a large hole on top of the tower. Shadow managed to brush off the debris and darted back at Sonic, not losing any momentum as he started to attack at Sonic again, pushing him into one of the offices inside the building, smashing the office walls into bits.

Shadow brought himself to his feet as soon as he landed back on the ground, and took one of the desks that was inside the office and threw it straight at Sonic, who deflected it away with his arms. Sonic then threw a bunch of chairs in Shadow's direction, but Shadow dodged out of its way before they had a chance to reach them. Shadow searched for where Sonic went but Sonic was nowhere to be found, until Shadow noticed out of the corner of his eye a beam of dark energy charging towards him, giving Shadow just enough time to sidestep out of the way.

As Sonic began to charge up another beam of dark energy, Shadow brought his hands together and began to form a ball of energy of his own, pushing it towards Sonic just as Sonic sent off his own dark energy beam. The two beams met directly between each other, forming a giant wave of energy directly in front of each other. They continued to push each other off with their beams of energy for a minute, but they both released their beams of energy at the same time, taking a moment to catch each other's breaths.

Sonic stood still for a moment, but picked up a bulky computer monitor and chucked it at Shadow, who swatted the monitor out of the way, barely troubling him. Sonic grabbed another desk and threw at Shadow's direction, but in his haste, missed Shadow entirely as the desk went through one of the walls of the skyscraper, sending the desk plummeting down into the lower levels. The resulting hole in the wall brought in wind howling from the heights of where they were, along with bits of rain.

Even as the wind and rain was bouncing off Shadow, Shadow charged up to Sonic and grabbed him in the chest, headbutting Sonic while he had him in his grasp. Sonic broke free from Shadow's grasp and started to punch at Shadow again, managing to inflict some damage on Shadow. Sonic then punched Shadow directly in the chin, sending Shadow flying back nearby the hole in the wall, though Shadow was able to stop himself before he fell over the edge.

Sonic went over to Shadow as Shadow was lying down on the floor, while Sonic lifted his one of his feet up to push Shadow off the ledge. Shadow kicked Sonic's other leg and tripped him up, giving Shadow time to get back up while Sonic was preoccupied with getting himself back up. As the two stood angrily beside each other, Shadow lunged directly at Sonic as they started grappling together, doing everything they could to harm each other.

Sonic eventually swung wildly at Shadow, giving Shadow enough momentum to throw Sonic away from himself and toward the hole in the wall, making Sonic trip up and start to stumble over. At the point when Sonic left the floor and went outside the building, Sonic managed to hold himself upright and floated in midair, grinning back as if he was trying to mock Shadow.

"You forget, I _am_ a God," sneered Sonic, as he continued to float in front of Shadow.

"Says who?" shouted Shadow back. "You're not even the most powerful hedgehog around here."

Sonic laughed hysterically as Shadow prepared to jump off towards Sonic. "You think you're as good as me? You know more than anyone else just how weak you are."

Shadow then jumped off the ledge and lunged toward Sonic, grabbing on to him as the two hedgehogs floated in the air, with the powers of the emeralds keeping them afloat, as an aura of energy surrounded both hedgehogs. Sonic managed to shove Shadow away and pushed him back towards the building they were just in a moment ago, as Shadow crashed against one of the windows of the skyscraper, creating cracks in the windows as Shadow brushed off the shards of glass from his body, leaning away from the skyscraper and floating in midair again.

Without saying a word, Shadow charged back at Sonic and rammed directly at him, tackling Sonic as the two went towards another skyscraper. The two hedgehogs bashed against the windows repeatedly, as they wrestled together and pushed each other back and forth, while they both took hits against the skyscraper as they rolled back and forth.

As the two hedgehogs reached the end of the side of the skyscraper, Sonic got a firm grip on Shadow's arms and wrapped him around the corner of the skyscraper, pinning him against the wall while they continued to float in mid-air. "Is that the best you can do?" mocked Sonic. "You're just an engineered freak! The only thing you're good for is giving me your special blood, just when I needed it, so that I could defeat you once and for all."

Even as Sonic strengthened his grip onto Shadow, Shadow continued to push back against Sonic, even as his arms were restrained. "That blood is just as worthwhile as any other blood, fool… The only thing that's making you run around destroying everything is your own reckless desires."

"That's impossible," scowled Sonic. "Wasn't your blood manufactured by Gerald Robotnik? There's no way your blood is natural blood."

"Maybe not," replied Shadow, as he started to wriggle free from Sonic's grasp. "That doesn't give you the excuse to inflict pain on the whole world. You were always planning to kill Eggman, weren't you? You just didn't have the guts to do so until the emeralds started to take control over your body. Now you're going to figure out the price of your pain."

Shadow swung one of his hands free from Sonic's grip, cutting his claws deep into Sonic's face, which, although not leaving a permanent mark on Sonic, it did distract Sonic enough for Shadow to shove Sonic away with his other hand, as Shadow pushed off from the skyscraper and charged at Sonic, grabbing him by the throat as Shadow pushed Sonic down towards the water flowing in the streets and went along with him. Before they reached the water, Sonic managed to grab onto Shadow and pull him in the direction away from the water. The strength of the two hedgehogs pushing and pulling on each other brought the two parallel against the water, skimming on the surface as they continued to wrestle with each other.

Shadow felt the water brush against his body, but still kept himself above the surface, as he continued to strike Sonic wherever he could, in the head, the chest, even the arms of his body. The two hedgehogs both maintained their speed along the surface of the river, as another building approached the two in the direction they were headed. Sonic looked at the building and smiled mischievously, as he continued to grapple with Shadow. Shadow noticed the building approach him and tried to swing Sonic around so that his back was facing the water, but Sonic managed to hold his position firmly.

When it became apparent that the two were going to collide with the building, Shadow let go from Sonic and skidded along the surface of the water to slow himself down, as he managed to get himself to an upright position, while his back was rammed against the wall of the building. Sonic kept going as he went through the building, crashing through the solid walls. Shadow floated around to where Sonic went through, seeing where he went. He found Sonic standing up from the rubble, brushing off the debris from his body effortlessly.

As soon as Sonic saw Shadow, Sonic flew over to Shadow and resumed beating him up, punching him repeatedly in the face and chest. Shadow managed to land a few punches of his own on Sonic, pushing Sonic back to one of the pillars inside the building. Sonic went right through the pillar, shaking the whole building as the frame holding the entire building destabilized. Shadow scanned briefly to see where Sonic was, but as the building was starting to topple down, Shadow flew out of the building just as the building collapsed behind him. As the rubble settled, Shadow could see Sonic on the other side of the rubble, not at all affected from the wreckage.

"There's nothing in the world that can stop me," chirped Sonic, as he breathed heavily, staring wildly at Shadow. "You're going to find that out the hard way, one way or another…"

Shadow said nothing in reply, but focused more on where Sonic was headed to, as Sonic hovered above the crumbled building. Sonic was now breathing more quickly, as his eyes started to widen and turn blood red, while Sonic was gnashing his teeth, pressing them down more firmly than before. Shadow bit his lips, while his heart started to beat rapidly as Sonic moved closer to Shadow, but Shadow remained still, even as doubts started to flow in his body. "I can take him down," said Shadow quietly to himself. "I've got this."

Sonic then suddenly jumped straight at Shadow, as Shadow blocked the wild attack, sticking his arm in the way of Sonic as he pushed Sonic away. Sonic hovered near Shadow, still breathing heavily and quickly. Sonic lunged at Shadow again, and Shadow anticipated the move, as he moved out of the way of Sonic swinging wildly at him. Sonic jabbed back at Shadow as the two grabbed onto each other's arms, shoving in every direction they could. Shadow managed to break one of his hands free to strike Sonic in the face, causing Sonic to do the same back, as Shadow moved backward, nearly falling into the rushing water beneath his feet.

Sonic's eyes glared back at Shadow, now more bloodshot than ever. "Now you've gone and done it. You're going to hell now..." Sonic brought his hands up as the ground underneath the two shook up, and as Sonic waved his arms in Shadow's direction, the debris from the building that fell down a few moments ago started to rush directly at Shadow, forcing Shadow to move out of the way as he barely had enough time to drift off to the side, while Sonic turned his attention towards the streets. He then grasped his hand and through his own psychic powers, brought up a piece of concrete from the roads and tossed it towards Shadow. Shadow dodged the piece of concrete, but the large chunk landed directly behind where Shadow was, landing in the rushing water and shooting out a large tidal wave behind Shadow, striking Shadow from behind. The wave managed to push Shadow forward and down into the water, as he was being dragged around by the pull of the water swirling in every direction.

Even with his newfound powers, Shadow struggled to keep his head above the water, though he was able to flow with the direction of the water, able to bring himself upright. He used all of his strength and powers to push himself as high up to the surface, but the water was still too strong for Shadow to rise above the surface. Shadow started pushing his arms around in any direction he could to try to gain momentum in the rushing water, but could not go anywhere towards the surface.

As Shadow continued to hold his breath, Shadow clenched his fists and let the powers of the emeralds generate inside his body. Just as his lungs were about to burst, Shadow unleashed the energy of the Chaos emeralds, powering himself through the water, breaking through the surface. Sonic was hovering directly below Shadow, carefully watching to see where he had gone, and as Shadow rose through the water, he knocked Sonic directly in the face. Sonic immediately struck back at Shadow, as he began to wrestle with Shadow back and forth as they both drifted towards a skyscraper, crashing into the windows.

Shadow jumped back onto his feet, brushing off the glass that fell onto him as he crashed through the window. Shadow ran up to Sonic and slugged him endlessly, as Sonic responded likewise. Sonic then shoved Shadow near the broken windows, nearly causing Shadow to fall out of the building. Shadow grabbed a piece of the window frame before he fell through the broken window and down below. As Shadow stepped back into the building, he ripped off the piece of the window frame he was holding onto, wielding it as a spear as he pointed it at Sonic. Shadow swung the piece of the window frame at Sonic, but Sonic grabbed the piece out of Shadow's hands, and snapped the piece in half.

Sonic glared back at Shadow as the two caught their breath. "No more fooling around, faker. I'm going to end this once and for all."

Before Shadow had a chance to reply, Sonic sped directly at Shadow, pushing both of them out of the broken window. Sonic rocketed himself out of the building and up into the sky, as he ascended into the stratosphere.

Shadow managed to hang onto the side of the building as he saw Sonic blast off into the sky, disappearing from sight. "I've got to stop him before I lose track of him!" Shadow pushed off from the building and generated more of the Emerald's power from inside of him, tensing up his muscles as he unleashed a stream of energy from his hands, powering him upwards as he lifted himself towards the sky, following Sonic as he started to track him down.

As the wind brushed against his face while he ascended in the sky, Shadow kept track of where Sonic was, but Shadow had trouble spotting Sonic through the thickening clouds above him. Shadow kept rising upward, knowing deep in his heart that Sonic was plotting something up in space.

A few minutes had passed as Shadow finally broke through the last of the clouds in the atmosphere and broken into the empty plains of outer space. Shadow saw the curvature of planet Earth, realizing how far he had ascended into the sky, and started to get more comfortable, with none of the devastation down on planet Earth around him, but only the stars blanketing around him every direction he went.

Out of the corner of his eye, Shadow noticed a bright yellow object glowing brightly in the distance, and Shadow turned to see Sonic hyperventilating as he glared manically at Shadow, holding a meteorite over his head. Sonic hurled the meteorite at Shadow at blistering speed, barely giving Shadow enough time to dodge out of the way.

"You're going down, faker!" yelled out Sonic in a huff. "Once I'm through with you, I'm going to destroy everyone who gets in my way! And all those who survive my wrath will serve under me…" Sonic then pushed his hands from one side to another, as another meteorite flew in near Sonic and then changed direction to head towards Shadow. As the meteorite darted directly at Shadow, Shadow pushed against the meteorite as it rushed in and tried to knock him over and was able to keep control of the meteorite, even as it pushed Shadow back a few feet. Eventually, after struggling with the meteorite for a few moments, Shadow pushed the heavy rock aside, throwing it down towards the Earth beneath the two hedgehogs.

Shadow stared directly toward Sonic, as the two hedgehogs clenched their fists, charging up more energy from the emeralds. "So, are you going to put up a fight, or are you just going to stand there and talk trash?"

Without saying a word, Sonic furiously flew up right beside Shadow and grabbed him by the throat, leaving Shadow gasping for air. Shadow wrestled with Sonic as he desperately tried to break free from Sonic's stranglehold. Shadow kept pushing and shoving as much as he could, using every bit of energy he had against Sonic, even as his vision started to fade.

"It's just you and me up here," mocked Sonic, as he kept ahold of Shadow's neck. "There's nobody to help you now."

"Maybe not," gasped Shadow, struggling to speak with his vocal chords compressed by Sonic's hands. "But you don't have anyone either, you son of a bitch!" Shadow then kicked Sonic in the stomach as hard as he could, pushing Sonic quickly away from himself, releasing Sonic's grasp on Shadow's neck as Sonic floated away from Shadow. Shadow then flew up to Sonic and battered him with his shoulder, pushing Sonic back even further.

As a small distance formed between the two hedgehogs, Shadow brought his hands together and formed a ball of energy, quickly charging it up while Sonic reoriented himself to face Shadow again. As Sonic faced Shadow in the eyes, Shadow released a beam of light against Sonic, striking Sonic square in the chest, knocking Sonic backwards again.

Sonic floated motionless for a few moments, allowing the pain to seep into his body, staring into outer space as he breathed quickly and heavily. Sonic clenched his fists and tensed up the muscles in his arms and legs, gritting and bearing his teeth as Sonic started to steadily shake violently. An aura of heat started to generate around him as Sonic started to reach his breaking point, and Sonic became intensely focused on Shadow's whereabouts.

Without saying a word, Sonic blasted off to where Shadow was, as Shadow was looking on at Sonic in horror. Shadow had little time to react to Sonic's blistering attack, as Sonic instantly latched onto Shadow's body and started to beat Shadow senselessly, letting out grunts and growls in anger at him. Sonic then grabbed Shadow's head and bashed their two heads together, giving Shadow a tremendous headache, though it clearly didn't affect Sonic at all, as Sonic continued to recklessly attack at Shadow, throwing everything he had at Shadow.

As Sonic bashed Shadow's head again, Shadow was pushed away from Sonic's sheer force and floated away from Sonic, while Sonic angrily looked on, staring at him with his wide bloodshot eyes. Shadow could feel his forehead warming up, placing his head on his forehead, feeling his sweat boiling away into outer space.

"The emeralds are back down on Earth," whispered Shadow quietly to himself, as he started to draw heavy breaths. "Once I run out of energy, I'm a goner. I need to think of something, and fast…"

Shadow then noticed Sonic charging right at Shadow, as Shadow remained still, floating in the dark chamber of space. Sonic grabbed Shadow's throat again, snapping Shadow out of his daze, as Shadow grabbed Sonic's neck as well. The two hedgehogs were both strangling each other, not willing to surrender to one another. Sonic started to tighten his grip on Sonic, only making Shadow to do so as well, even as he was growing weak and fatigued.

Sonic was only focused on keeping his grip on Shadow, digging his claws deep into Shadow's neck. Shadow could feel Sonic's pulsating muscles through his whole body, while the two continued to choke each other, not showing any signs of surrendering to one another. Shadow started to gasp for air, terrifying him as he knew there was no fresh air to be found in space, only having the air the Chaos emeralds were providing for him. "Damn," thought Shadow, "I can't take this anymore!"

Shadow brought his legs up to Sonic's chest and tried to push Sonic away from himself with all his might, but couldn't break free from Sonic. As Sonic continued strengthening his grip on Shadow, Shadow could feel all of his senses starting to fade, as the light around his eyes darkened around the edges, only being able to see Sonic's horrifying face. Shadow released one of his hands from Sonic's neck and struck Sonic's head as hard as he could. The sheer force of the strike distracted Sonic enough to allow Shadow to rip one of Sonic's arms away from his neck, freeing the other hand as Shadow started to beat up on Sonic as Shadow regained his sight again.

Sonic started to wrestle with Shadow as they both traded blows with each other, bruising each other repeatedly. "Why can't you just die?" scowled Sonic.

Shadow looked over towards the Earth, as Sonic had turned the two sideways, so that the Earth was towards one side of the battle. "In your quest for power, you forgot to account for one thing for your subjects; Freedom." Shadow struck Sonic in the chest and face a few times, separating the two apart as they drifted in space. "If your subjects are living in fear of you, do they truly respect you? If they serve you, do they do so out of appreciation? Or is it because they are afraid of how you'll punish them?"

Sonic charged straight at Shadow and started grappling with him again, and the momentum of Sonic pushing and shoving at Shadow caused the two to gravitate downward towards the Earth's atmosphere. Shadow noticed that they were dropping down as he began to shudder and breathe heavily, while continuing to grapple with Sonic. "There's no other way I can defeat him up here," thought Shadow to himself. "If I stay up here, I'm going to die. The only way I can defeat Sonic is to take him back down to Earth."

Shadow then grabbed tightly onto Sonic, locking Sonic's arms together as he struggled to break free from Shadow's stronghold. Shadow threw his weight downwards towards the Earth, speeding up their descent down through the atmosphere. The two were flying downwards at a steep angle, constantly building up speed as flames started to form on both of their skins, gradually glowing brighter as they descended downwards.

Even with the heat building up around Shadow, he continued to descend downwards, even as his fur started to flake off in the flames. At this point, Sonic was now wildly trying to break free from Shadow's grasp, but was also being fatigued by the heat of the atmosphere breaking down on his body. Soon, Shadow could start to pinpoint where the ground was in the large planet, and noticed just how far up they both were in the sky. His whole body became tense as the two hedgehogs flew closer down towards the ground, showing no signs of stopping at all. If anything, Sonic's struggles were only hastening their landing.

"So this is how it ends," said Shadow quietly. "After all this time… It doesn't feel real." He took a good look back at Sonic, who was now shaking violently, doing anything to break free from Shadow. Shadow kept holding on to Sonic, confident that he wouldn't let go. "This will bring peace to the world again, Maria. One way or another, this will bring peace."

As the two hedgehogs were getting closer to the ground, Shadow closed his eyes shut as he saw the ground zoom closer to him, not wanting to look down any further. He held on tight to Sonic as Sonic continued to wrestle with him, not realizing what was going on around him, Shadow took a few heavy and deep breaths as the altar holding the Master Emerald started to come into view. Shadow was perfectly quiet, content with his fate about to unfold in front of him.

The two hedgehogs struck the ground not far from the altar of the Master Emerald, instantaneously creating a large explosion, generated from the heat formed when the two were descending in the atmosphere. The ground shook around violently where the hedgehogs crashed, breaking up into pieces as the island that held the altar broke off from the bridge connecting to the cliff nearby, and the whole island disintegrated into tiny pieces.

As the explosion started to envelop the entire Shrine Isle, the Master Emerald itself broke off into tiny pieces, disintegrating as the flames shredded the emerald apart, while the pieces themselves vaporized as they broke apart. The seven greyed out Chaos Emeralds also broke off and vaporized in the explosion as well, breaking off instantaneously in the inferno.

From a distance, the land that once contained the Shrine Isle was now a giant fireball, spreading out everything that was once on it – stones, rocks, patches of grass, even Knuckles' lifeless body, as it was carelessly thrown out of the blaze and crashed against the stone wall a few feet away from where the bridge once stood.

Almost as soon as the explosion began, it disappeared in the air, leaving behind nothing in its wake, not even a shred of dirt remained where the Isle once stood. At once, the air around the area fell still, and the whole area fell quiet, with not a single shred of life moving nearby, with only the wind blowing away in the background.

Amidst all the chaos coming to a sudden end, Sonic and Shadow were nowhere to be found, not anywhere in sight of where the Shrine Isle once stood. It was almost as if nothing had ever existed there at all.


	12. Chapter 12

Three days had passed since the last time Miles had seen Sonic, for better or worse. Miles had been tending to his leg since crashing his plane, and was finally able to put some weight on the leg, as he started to salvage what he could out of the Tornado 3.

"The whole engine's practically disintegrated," grumbled Miles, as Amy looked on in despair. "I don't know how much we can get from this."

Amy went up to Miles and leaned on his shoulder, giving Miles a rare, warm smile, as he wrapped his arm around Amy, returning the favour and hugging her back. Amy looked back at the remains of the Tornado 3, shaking her head. "It'll be a shame to see it go, Miles. But these things can be replaced."

"You're right," sighed Miles, as he kneeled down to study the wrecked bodywork of the plane. "The same can't be said for those around us. There's been so much destruction the past few days." Miles rubbed his eyes, unable to focus on the wreckage. His head pounded like a drum, throbbing from the inside out. "There's nothing else we can salvage from here. I'll come back tomorrow to take the wreckage back to the workshop."

Without saying another word, Miles left the wreckage and walked deep into the forest, towards the site where the Altar of the Emeralds used sit on the Shrine Isle. As he approached the bridge that led to where the Altar used to be, Miles couldn't help but feel unnerved at the absence of the Isle, noticing the glaring empty space that the Isle once took up, leaving nothing in its path.

Miles felt an object touch his feet and noticed a bright shard sparkling in the ground, standing out from the grass and dirt that Miles was standing on. Miles picked up the small shard, barely any bigger than the palm of his hand, and smooth to the touch. He gazed as it, baffled at its brightness, not even having a single speck of dirt, even while being stuck in the ground when he picked it up. "Where the hell did this come from?" asked Miles to himself.

Miles started to look around himself and found more tiny pieces of the same colour strewn around the ground, all pointing in the same direction that the Altar of the Emeralds once stood. Miles tried to pick up as many of the shards as he could, but some of them were so thin that they crumbled as soon as he touched them, turning into fine powder and dust.

Amy ran up to Miles as he was investigating the ground. "What are you looking for?" asked Amy.

Miles scratched his head, staring at the first shard he found. "I found a shiny piece stuck in the ground not far from where the Shrine Isle used to be. It's very strange, because aside from the fact that it's obviously broken off of something, it's completely perfect – it isn't dirty, it hasn't lost any of its shine, and yet, I can't help but wonder how it got there in the first place. It obviously wouldn't have been sitting here for a long time, otherwise there would be some dirt stuck onto it."

Amy took the shard from Miles' hand and studied it herself, becoming just as puzzled as Miles was. "You don't think this could have been blown away from the Shrine Isle after it disappeared, Miles?"

Miles grabbed the shard back from Amy, figuring out the colour of the shard definitively in his mind. "The Shrine Isle… this has to come from the Master Emerald, right? I should have known from the start. It must have been incinerated with the rest of the Shrine Isle. All the pieces must have been scattered all over the place…" Miles approached the edge of the bridge where the Shrine Isle used to stand, staring down below to the deep chasm below. "Most of the shards probably ended up down there. It'll be impossible to fish all of the shards out from there."

"Even if we did," Amy continued, "the pieces are so small that it'll be difficult to figure out which piece goes where. And we don't have Knuckles to help us piece it back together like the last time the Master Emerald broke apart."

"Yeah," sighed Miles, lowering his head. He pondered about Knuckles for a few moments, remembering the good times he had with him, disbelieving the fact that his good friend was no longer with him in the living world. "Everything won't be the same without him, Amy."

Amy held onto Miles' free hand firmly, giving a comforting smile to the crestfallen Miles. "The best thing we can do is move forward, even if it's very hard to do. It's what Knuckles would have wanted us to do, Miles."

"You're right," conceded Miles, as he gently tossed the shard of the Master Emerald back to the ground. "I'm just thankful that the fighting's all over now. But building back up Station Square from the ground up won't be easy. The whole city's been completely destroyed. Every building's been damaged in some way." Miles turned to Amy, glaring back at him. "I know I don't share your optimism, but it's the truth. Nothing will ever be the same ever again."

Amy continued to hold onto Miles' hand, as she started to walk away from the entrance of the bridge and back towards the forest, gently bringing Miles with her. Miles walked alongside Amy without saying a word, allowing the peaceful air to surround him from the inside out. They barely made it a few feet when Amy rolled her ankle while stepping on a piece of a grey gemstone, blended in with the dirt on the ground. Amy hurriedly picked up the piece of the gemstone, not much larger than the size of a marble, and studied it carefully as Miles looked at it with her. "What the heck is this, Miles?"

Miles grabbed the chunk of the gemstone from Amy, frantically getting a closer look at the object. "This has to be a piece of a Chaos Emerald," declared Miles. "It's the same material as the piece of the Master Emerald I was holding a moment ago. There's no colour to it, just like it was many years ago, when Chaos itself tried to take down the world. The only question I have is why the emerald is in pieces like this…" Miles searched carefully around him and found another chunk of an emerald, roughly around the same size as the one the two found to begin with. Amy then noticed a third piece within a few feet from where the two were standing.

As Amy brought over the third piece of the emerald over to Miles, a concerned look had gathered around her face. "There must be pieces of the Chaos Emeralds all over the place, buried in the dirt. But… why? It doesn't make any sense."

Miles turned to where the Shrine Isle once stood, visualizing in his mind where the island was, looking back and forth between the area where the two found the chunks of the Chaos Emeralds and the empty space that once had the Shrine Isle. "The Chaos Emeralds must have been destroyed in the same way the Master Emerald got destroyed. And the rest of the pieces are either lying around here or down in the pit below."

"So there's no way we can put any of the emeralds back together?" asked Amy.

"Not if you want to jump down there," Miles remarked, nodding his head towards the broken bridge. "I've never seen anyone willingly dive down there, and I doubt anyone could make it back up, even with the most advanced machinery. It would take years to dig up that pit."

Amy glazed back at the chunk of the Chaos Emerald she was holding in her hand, slowly shaking her head as she reluctantly gave it to Miles. "Maybe it's for the better that the Emeralds remain broken, Miles."

Miles raised an eyebrow after hearing Amy's remarks. "Why do you say that?"

"The Emeralds have brought us nothing but destruction," Amy explained, turning away from Miles. "All my life, everyone's been going after the Emeralds, fighting for them, battling for them, even killing for them, just to get those Emeralds at any cost. They contain raw power that one person should never keep to themselves. What happened in the past few days is proof of that."

Miles gazed at the debris and rocks strewn across the ground and nodded in agreement with Amy. "That's a good point, Amy. Maybe it is better that the rest of the Emeralds are down there in the pit… somewhere. Besides, I'm not in any rush to find them."

"Neither am I," admitted Amy, stepping closer to Miles as they hugged each other. "Let's go home now, Miles. I'm getting tired."

"Me too," smiled Miles. He was about to lean over to kiss Amy when he spotted out of the corner of his eye what appeared to be a body lying motionless in the forest, blending in with the dark leaves and branches that remained standing. "Excuse me, Amy," said Miles nervously. "I'll be right back."

Miles left Amy confused as she stood alone in the fields, as Miles hobbled over towards the forest, slowly heading towards where he saw the body lying still. Amy stood quietly for a few moments, unsure what Miles was doing going towards the forest, until she looked ahead and saw the body lying still as well. Amy's heart immediately sank, as she could not see the body moving even an inch, concluding to herself that the body was no longer living. She slowly stepped forward towards Miles' direction, reluctantly investigating who was laying there.

Miles stepped a few feet into the forest, getting a better look at the body lying in the bushes, as he was able to see more of the body's arms and legs. There, he saw a blue hedgehog lying still on the ground, his fur turning back to its natural bright blue colour in patches, as dark blue spots were spread out all over his body. The blue hedgehog was barely breathing, drawing short of breath, as scars and bruises were present everywhere on him, and the dirt directly around the hedgehog indicated that he was thrown into place, with a small crater formed around where the hedgehog laid.

"It can't be," gasped Miles, biting his lips in horror. He couldn't believe his own eyes, but Sonic was lying directly in front of him, defenseless, beaten and barely hanging on to an inch of his life. Sonic was barely breathing at all, barely audible even when Miles got near Sonic to check for his pulse, which was also very faint.

Miles took a couple of steps back after checking Sonic's pulse, staring blankly at Sonic as he couldn't help but stare at his bruised and beaten body, with cuts and scars scattered all over Sonic. Miles slowly drew out the pistol that was in his bag and hesitantly pointed it at Sonic, as he continued to lie silently on the ground. Miles paused as he pointed the pistol at Sonic, biting his lips as Sonic didn't move an inch. "I have to do this, Sonic. I'm sorry…"

Amy noticed Miles pointing the pistol and ran up to Miles, investigating what he was doing, when she saw Sonic lying down motionless on the ground. "What are you doing, Miles?" yelled Amy.

"I have to kill him," said Miles, holding back tears. "I can't let him live after what he did to us."

"He's not entirely to blame for all of this!" Amy shouted at Miles. "We both know that the Chaos Emeralds were taking control of Sonic from the very start! They were possessing him to create destruction all around him! You can't kill him for something that he didn't want to do!"

"He tried to rape you!" shouted Miles back at Amy, getting close to her face. "He kidnapped you and forced you to be with him!"

"That may be true," continued Amy, "and he'll have to face the consequences for his actions. But you can't kill him out of vengeance. He still needs to be punished, but you can't simply do what he did to everyone else! Killing him would be hypocritical of us, promising peace only to destroy our enemies."

At this point, Sonic moved around very slowly, twitching his arms and legs as he started to slowly regain consciousness. Sonic slowly opened up his eyes, hazily staring at Miles and Amy, who were standing beside each other, stunned at Sonic's sudden movements.

As Sonic's vision started to recover, he could clearly see the troubled faces from Miles and Amy, as all of his muscles ached from head to toe. He kept lying quietly for a few moments, breathing more consistently and drawing heavier breaths. Miles put away his pistol and kneeled down towards Sonic's head, listening carefully to Sonic's breaths, all while looking away from Sonic to avoid making eye contact.

Sonic looked upwards into the trees, still in a daze but able to hold his eyes open ever so slightly as the redness started to fade and return back to normal. "Shadow… where… is he?" asked Sonic weakly, catching his breath with each word.

Miles ignored Sonic, not wanting to talk to him at all. He closely monitored Sonic, checking his pulse as Sonic slowly began to breathe more consistently. "Where's… Shadow?" asked Sonic again, while Miles hung his head down in despair. Sonic waited for a couple of moments until he popped open his eyes fully as Sonic adjusted to the light entering his eyesight. Sonic noticed Miles kneeling beside him and grabbed Miles' arm in a panic. "Where is he?" stuttered Sonic, digging his claws into Miles' arm, nearly paralyzing Miles in the process.

Amy nervously backed away from Miles and Sonic as Sonic started to regain consciousness, but still kept staring at the hedgehog, unable to take her eyes off him only out of horror more than anything else. She also carefully kept track of where Miles was, making sure that the two didn't harm each other.

Sonic eventually let go of Miles' arm and started searching the ground around him, rubbing his hands against the dirt and grass in the forest. "The emeralds… where are they? What happened?" Sonic found one of the tiny pieces of the greyed out emeralds and picked it up with his hand, only for the piece to grind away to dust as soon as he brought it close to his eyesight. As Sonic felt the dust fall between his fingers, Sonic moved his feet and attempted to stand on his own power, but felt faint and stumbled almost immediately, slipping down as he fell down on his knees. Sonic began to move upwards much more slowly than the first, while the whole world seemed to be spinning in circles around Sonic.

Miles continued to kneel nearby Sonic silently, not saying a word to Sonic as Sonic glared in the area in front of him. "What happened to…" Sonic stopped as he wobbled his legs until he was able to prop himself right side up, pushing onto Miles' unsuspecting shoulder as he pushed himself off the ground and started to stand on his own two feet, leaning on nearby trees for support as he stumbled outside of the forest and towards the empty pit.

Sonic took each step slowly and carefully, but was able to make his way to where the Shrine Isle once stood, discovering its disappearance much in the same way Miles and Amy did before. "That's impossible," whispered Sonic quietly to himself. "There's no way the Altar could have vanished like this, unless…" Sonic reminded himself of the dust from the piece of the Chaos Emerald, and turned back to Miles, who was monitoring Sonic's every move. "You know what happened, didn't you?" Sonic yelled, as Miles held his breath.

Sonic waited for a couple of moments, but quickly grew impatient by Miles' lack of response. Sonic ran up to Miles and sunk his claws into Miles' shoulders, shaking him lightly but violently, getting close to Miles' face. "Tell me! Tell me now! I deserve the right to know what I did! I know what happened inside of me!"

A few moments passed with Sonic still grabbing onto Miles' shoulders until Sonic let go of Miles, as Sonic huffed more heavily. "There's no point hiding the truth from me anymore, Miles. Just show me what I did. Show me and I can know for sure what I've done to this planet…"

"Follow me," commanded Miles, grimly nodding away from the pit containing the Shrine Isle and towards the top of the cliff, above the rocks circling the area of the Shrine Isle. There, a pathway led up to the highest point of the rocks, above the forest and everything else nearby. As Miles walked towards the pathway, he found sticking out in the dirt two white shoes carelessly thrown about, bordered with red rims all around the edges. Miles ran towards the shoes and pulled one of them out, only to find that there was nothing on the shoe.

Sonic grabbed the other shoe and grasped it firmly, shaking it as he simmered in anger. "Of course… as the Emeralds faded to dust, so did Shadow, made out of the same energy that gave the Emeralds the power they possessed. If the emeralds are gone…" Sonic ran up past Miles and up towards the top of the pathway, overlooking to where he could see Station Square off in the distance, completely destroyed as each building laid in ruins. Sonic darted off from the pathway and ran towards Station Square, catching Miles off guard.

"Wait a minute!" yelled Miles, trying to catch Sonic's attention. "Get back here!" He ran after Sonic, able to match his speed as they both hobbled from the highest point of the forest, travelling away from the Shrine Isle.

It took Sonic a couple of minutes to travel down from the highest point of the forest and down towards the fields where he could see Station Square easily, and it was there where Sonic could fully see the widespread destruction of the city, as each and every building had been bashed into, with the buildings having most of their windows being broken, and some of the buildings having huge chunks missing entirely. The streets were still covered with water, visible even from the distance Sonic was from the main portion of the city.

Sonic couldn't believe his own eyes, but as he kept gazing on at Station Square, the one thing that horrified him most was the deafening silence filling the air. Not once did he feel that there was anyone else nearby, other than himself and Miles following closely behind him. All the other people had either fled from the city, or perished in the destruction. And Sonic could feel every one of their souls haunting him in his mind, screaming in pain at him. Sonic fell down to his knees as every single victim started to creep up inside him, putting more weight on his guilt until he couldn't handle the weight anymore, and started to cover his face and break down inside and out.

Miles found Sonic bawling loudly from afar, as Miles kept his distance from Sonic, not wanting to upset Sonic any further, not wanting to disturb him from his grief. Sonic cried for a couple more minutes, occasionally pounding the ground in anger, questioning his own sanity under his breath, sensing that Miles was closely behind him, witnessing his sorrow.

Sonic quieted down and lamented to himself, keeping quiet to himself and not saying a word. Miles took a deep breath and walked up slowly to Sonic, carefully walking beside the devastated hedgehog. Sonic noticed Miles walk up and got back up on his feet as Miles got near Sonic.

"Miles," said Sonic, lightly pushing Miles aside. "Don't comfort me…. Please… I know what I did. I don't deserve anything right now."

Miles froze where he was standing as Sonic turned completely away from Miles, lowering his head and avoiding having his tear-filled eyes being seen by anyone around him.

"I killed Shadow, too, didn't I?" sobbed Sonic, as he started to cover his face with his hands again. "I don't want it to be true… but I recall fighting with him just a short time ago, and he was right next to me from what I remember before everything went dark…"

Amy ran up beside Miles, exhausted and out of breath as she noticed Sonic completely beside himself, trembling with each word he spoke. Amy just about threw up seeing Sonic in that state, having never seen him in a state of sorrow before.

"The worst part is," continued Sonic, "as soon as I got a hold of the first couple of emeralds, I could feel their power starting to consume me, but I couldn't stop it. I had to get more of them… by the time I realized what was going on, I couldn't control myself anymore. The emeralds were controlling me from the inside out, and I just wanted to find a way to break free before anyone else got hurt… but it's too late now." Sonic started to drift away from Miles and Amy, as the two stood where they were, scared to approach Sonic. "I don't belong here, Miles. There's no chance I can redeem myself for what I did."

Sonic opened his eyes and looked back towards the forest where he came from, as it stretched from the edge of the city and far into the distance, further than his own sight could see. "I can't stay here anymore, Miles. I'm sorry."

In a blink of an eye, Sonic darted off sorrowfully towards the forest, as Miles instinctually stepped in the same direction that Sonic was going, only for Amy to tug onto Miles' arm, stopping Miles from going anywhere.

"It's best if we leave him," said Amy softly to Miles, as her grip on Miles' arm became more tense.

Miles stood in place for a few moments, seeing Sonic run out into the distance, disappearing from sight into the thick forest, far away from Station Square and the rest of civilization. Miles' heart started to ache as Sonic could no longer be seen from where they were, as Amy looked around at the destroyed buildings and streets. Miles sighed heavily as each moment passed, as he sat down on the ground, leaning on his knees as he shook his head while it pounded away in pain.

Amy sat down beside Miles, gently rubbing the back of his neck while Miles stared blankly into the middle of the city. Miles was completely still, continuing to gather the new realities of the life ahead of him.

"It's strange," said Miles wearily, finding enough strength to speak quietly to Amy. "Even with Sonic being beaten up like he did within the past few days, this was the first time I truly felt like he's not coming back. I've been denying the facts for a while now, but it's finally starting to feel real now." Miles contemplated with himself at the new reality, knowing deep down he had seen his friend for the last time.

Amy didn't reply back, having the reality set down in her mind as well. She leaned her head onto Miles' shoulder, gathering every last bit of tenderness from Miles' body, even as the wind started to pick up and chill them down from the inside out. Even as the cold started to set in, Amy did what she could to retain any warmth that she could, knowing that life was about to get harder from this point onwards.

* * *

Sonic had been running deep into the forest for a couple of hours at this point. Even he wasn't sure how far he had run into the forest. He didn't care. The further he was in the forest, the further away someone would recognize him and hunt him down for revenge. Sonic desperately wanted to be away from anyone who knew him, wanting to be alone with only the trees and the wind for company.

His obsession with fleeing from Station Square had taken a toll on his body, as Sonic was almost exhausted from running as fast as he could, short of breath and hungry for thirst. He hadn't eaten anything since waking up from the battle, hadn't had a drop to drink anywhere. But Sonic didn't want any food or water. Nothing in life mattered to him anymore, and the only thing he wanted at the moment was peace and quiet. But everywhere he went, the ghosts of the recent past started to haunt him – everyone he killed, everyone he betrayed and pushed aside along the way, they were now bearing down and terrorizing him, attacking his mind and giving him no rest whatsoever.

Sonic slowed down to a dead stop, and fell down onto his knees. He found a large tree trunk and crawled inside the tree trunk and leaned his back onto the walls of the tree, curling himself up in a ball as the cold wind whipped around the tree. Though Sonic was shivering from head to toe, he was sweating all over from his forehead to his feet, too exhausted to venture any further. He was becoming delirious from trying to stay awake, not wanting to rest his eyes, in case somebody found him hiding in the tree and wanted to fight him for what he did.

Sonic's eyes, though back to their normal colour, had become sore and weary, only being stained by the steady flow of tears pouring from his face. He had started to bang his head against the sides of the tree, wanting to wake up from the nightmare that he was living in. "How could I have done any of this?" sobbed Sonic, holding his hands between his head as he started to move his head from side to side, doing anything he could to relieve the headache inside his head. The pain that was throbbing inside his head had become unbearable, to the point that it was visibly sore to anyone nearby.

As Sonic brushed his head against the side of the tree again, he felt a large vine wrapping around the inside to the outside, lining up and around the bark, going up into the branches up above. The voices of all those who had perished were still yelling inside his mind, and Sonic begged quietly for the yelling to stop, all to no avail. Sonic stumbled out of the tree and grabbed the vine wrapped around the tree, seeing it extend to the very top. As he tugged on the vine and ripped it off from the tree, there were countless loops circled in front of him, easily stretching farther than the height of his own body. "It'll have to do," shivered Sonic, breathing quickly in and out. "Not like there's going to be anything else around here."

After securing the vine into a tight loop, Sonic threw the other end of the vine onto the thickest branch he could find and wrapped it around enough times to ensure that the vine wasn't going to spring loose on him. Afterwards, Sonic found a rock that he could stand on top of, and stepped up towards the branch, ensured once again that the vine was snugly secured onto the branch, and placed the looped end of the vine around his neck.

Sonic took a few deep breaths as the vine tightened firmly around his neck, securing itself on both ends. Sonic stood still on the rock, letting the wind blow gently into his face one last time. "This is it, then," shuddered Sonic, closing his eyes. He took a few more gentle breaths as his heartbeat started to accelerate, as every muscle in his body started to tense up. Sonic took one more giant breath while his stomach started to churn up inside. "Goodbye," said Sonic, as he kicked away the rock from underneath his feet, and started to drop down towards the ground.

As the rock fell away from Sonic, the vine secured around his neck very tightly, preventing Sonic from reaching the ground. He was now hovering a couple of feet above the ground, with the vine keeping Sonic from moving anywhere. While the vine started to strangle around Sonic's neck, his lungs started to tense up, not being able to take in fresh air from the outside, only able to retain the stale air he breathed in.

Sonic struggled to take in another breath of air, his head already becoming faint from the lack of fresh oxygen passing through his body. He gagged and gasped as much as he could, as the pressure inside his chest became unmeasurably painful, while the rest of his body wriggled instinctively, trying to break free. Yet, despite his body's obvious urges to breathe, Sonic clenched his fists as he toughed out the pressure, wanting to see his plan go through.

The hedgehog opened his mouth wide open as his throat contracted in desperation to breathe in fresh air, but the vine wrapped around his neck only gripped tighter as each second passed. Soon, Sonic's eyes shot open as his whole body was starting to shake and contract, trying to reuse all of the air that was left inside his body. His own instinctual needs were conflicting with his own desire to end his life, as his hands gripped at the vine trying to pry the vine free, while his own thoughts focused on seeing through his plan. "Dangit," thought Sonic. "I can't… control myself…"

Sonic gagged some more as his face started to turn to a pale red, becoming exhausted by the ordeal. By now, his whole body was doing everything to break free from the vine, as it shook and swayed with the breezing wind. His heartbeat had now gone into a feverpitch, beating violently as his lungs desperately tried to pump air that wasn't going to arrive. Sonic groaned and gasped as the vine continued to grab onto his neck, and his vision slowly started to fade around the edges, while sweat poured from his forehead.

"Gaah… it hurts…" croaked Sonic through the vine, his voice barely audible even to his own ears. Sonic gagged again for air, as his lungs were about to burst from the prolonged breath hold. Soon, his own hands were unable to lift themselves up, as his whole body was tensing and twitching uncontrollably in the air.

"I thought… this would be… more… peaceful…" thought Sonic, as he hung his tongue out in a last ditch effort to gain more air. "Everything hurts…"

Sonic then took one large gasp, but once again had no air enter his drying lungs, as it started to beat in sync with his heart, almost ready to burst. His face was now almost entirely dark red, with tints of purple starting to show, as the branch holding the vine together was bouncing around with Sonic's body. "Just let me die… please…" pleaded Sonic inside his mind, as his eyes started to drift and glaze over, his eyelids starting to close up.

As Sonic twitched involuntarily again, the branch wrapped around the vine shook around some more, while Sonic, now hanging nearly motionless, inadvertently shifted his weight towards one side of the branch, causing the branch to lean over some more until it eventually snapped in two, dropping Sonic downwards as he collapsed on the ground, hitting his head as he fell down. Sonic barely noticed the pain of his head hitting the ground, as he was almost completely unconscious, only barely able to have the vine's grip on his neck loosen as the branch fell away from the tree he was hanging on.

Sonic instinctively took in a large, gasping breath as he laid down on the ground, first taking in short, quick breaths while the colour of his face slowly returned to normal. Sonic coughed out the excess stale air left inside his body as he rolled over to his side, taking in a few quick breaths in between coughs. His vision started to return back to normal, as Sonic's mind remained in a daze, though he could start to see more shapes and colours return to his view, while the world kept spinning around him. "Damn, I can't even kill myself right," thought Sonic bitterly to himself. "What do I have to do to kill myself?" He groaned resentfully as his breathing became more consistent, taking in quick but steady breaths, heaving loudly in and out.

A small light blue Chao cautiously walked up to where Sonic was lying and untied the vine that was wrapped around his neck, as it watched Sonic with concern. Putting up a question mark above its head, the Chao wondered what the hedgehog was doing there lying the middle of the forest heaving in and out for air.

"Wha..?" gasped Sonic, as he rolled over towards where the Chao was, noticing the light grip of the vine releasing from his body. "Who are… what's going on?" Sonic huffed, barely able to focus his eyes on the Chao in front of him.

The Chao nudged lightly at Sonic, urging him to get up on his feet. The Chao's eyes lit up in determination, chanting at Sonic to grab his full attention.

Sonic was able to open his eyes up fully as the blue Chao lingered near Sonic's head, staring intently at the hedgehog. "What do you want me for?" said Sonic weakly. "I'm no good for anything."

The Chao ignored Sonic's words, chanting at him again to get him off the ground. Sonic slowly closed and opened his eyes, ignoring the Chao as he drifted in and out of alertness. "Go away," grumbled Sonic, as he turned away from the Chao. "I'm really tired."

As Sonic closed his eyes again, the Chao ran up to Sonic's face and started to lightly tap it, as Sonic's eyes shot open again. Sonic, now visibly annoyed, rolled back to face the Chao and pushed his arms up to get onto his knees, still leaning onto the ground. "Listen, I don't know what you want to do with me. But I'm not in the mood to go anywhere right now."

The Chao pointed in the opposite direction it came from, pointing towards the deep forest in a panic, pleading with Sonic to come along as it chanted some more, humming a quick story to Sonic.

"Alright, fine," grumbled Sonic, as his eyes adjusted to the light again. "I'll go along with you for a few minutes, ok? But I won't stay for very long."

As soon as Sonic said this, the Chao jumped up in glee and started to run into the forest, pattering its feet as fast as it could. It was slow enough for Sonic to drag his feet up so that he could stand up, slowly following the Chao which was striding as far as it could into the forest, taking in deep breaths along the way. Sonic groaned in anger, holding his head as the pain from him hitting his head as he fell started to pound through, pulsating through his body.

Sonic followed the Chao for a couple of minutes, constantly readjusting his eyes as more light started to enter into his sights again, straining Sonic's vision. The Chao entered a thick bush hidden deep into the trees, and Sonic crawled through the bush directly behind the Chao, groaning as every bone in his body ached in agony. Out of the other side of the bush was a large garden, filled with grass and flowers all across. On one side there was a tall fence to keep the rest of the Chao inside, on the other side giant rocks covered towered over the garden. There were a few trees, giving the Chao plenty of food to eat, and a lake full of water with an island in the center, and directly behind the island was a waterfall filling the air with the soothing sounds of flowing water, gentle enough to flow at a slow, steady pace.

The Chao that Sonic was following wandered off towards the other side of the field, and hovered near the large stationary portal, containing a door that was sealed in from the inside, unable to be opened by anyone. The blue Chao waited at the portal for a minute until the door quickly opened up and spat out a brown Chao before it closed almost as soon as it opened. The brown Chao was marginally larger than the blue Chao, as it gazed around the large garden, popping a question mark over its head as it wondered where it was.

The blue Chao looked over to Sonic as Sonic walked over slowly towards the two Chao, carefully looking at the brown Chao, who had decided to sit down as it stared blankly at the ground. The brown Chao was incredibly quiet, not making a single sound or move, but instead simply sitting in place as Sonic stood within a few feet of the brown Chao.

"Is this what you brought me over for?" said Sonic, looking back at the blue Chao, before turning his attention back to the brown Chao. It was then that he noticed the wings on the back of the blue Chao were detailed and at its normal size, about half the size of its arms, while the brown Chao had very tiny wings, barely visible even at close range. The brown Chao noticed Sonic standing nearby and looked up to face Sonic, staring its beady eyes directly at Sonic.

"What do you want from my life?" groaned Sonic quietly, as the brown Chao stood up and slowly walked towards Sonic. Sonic carefully kneeled down the brown Chao, as it stood still beside Sonic, not giving any emotions at all. Sonic picked up the Chao and held it in his arms as he sat down on the ground, and the Chao still didn't give any emotion back to Sonic, baffling the hedgehog. "I thought Chao loved to be picked up," said Sonic quietly to himself, as he cuddled the Chao with care. He felt the head of the Chao, as the Chao reacted to the touches Sonic made and nervously leaned its head away from Sonic's hands.

"Strange," said Sonic, as he continued to pat the smooth head of the Chao. "It must be scared of me. But I've never met this Chao before in my life… unless it knows about me…" Sonic stopped speaking, not wishing to speculate any further, as he put the Chao back on its feet. Sonic scratched his head as the Chao stood in place in front of Sonic while blinking occasionally.

Sonic looked at the brown Chao for a few moments, and then cautiously went to rub his head gently, as the Chao stood completely still. His heart sank as the Chao stood solemnly still, barely reacting to Sonic's touches. "Why isn't the Chao responding?" thought Sonic to himself. Sonic lifted his hand from the Chao's head as he stepped back a couple of feet, sitting down across from the Chao as the Chao sat down as well, staring contently up into the clouds.

As the two were sitting peacefully, the brown Chao closed its eyes and frowned somberly, as a swirl appeared on the top of its head. The Chao shook its head as a small cocoon started to form around the Chao, slowly enveloping around it as the Chao continued to frown in sorrow. Sonic could only watch as the white cocoon solidified around the Chao, as he buried his head in his hands. "I killed it," scowled Sonic bitterly. "That's the only thing I can do!"

Sonic started to weep bitterly as the cocoon stood in place, as the blue Chao returned to investigate what had happened to the brown Chao. The blue Chao lightly tapped on the cocoon, which was hard as a rock by then, and thick enough that the Chao could not be seen inside. The blue Chao then went towards Sonic, who was completely beside himself, pounding the ground with his fist in anger. Sonic stopped for a moment, breathing heavily as his knees were on the ground, and he was bent over with his face glued down on the ground, with Sonic unwilling to face the cocoon. He started to lift his head back up from the ground, shuddering as he reluctantly checked on the cocoon again, noticing that the cocoon was fading away, and an egg could be seen through the cocoon.

"That's impossible," said Sonic in disbelief, as the Chao egg became clearer. "Don't white cocoons mean death? So how come an egg appeared?" Sonic anxiously waited nearby as the cocoon completely faded away, leaving only the Chao egg left standing. Sonic picked up the egg and gently rocked it back and forth, cradling the egg in his arms. Sonic gently put down the egg on the ground and waited for a couple of moments, as the egg continued to sit still. Sonic picked up the egg again, grasping it in his hands as he attempted to check if there was anything still inside, but could not feel anything through the thick eggshell. Sonic rocked the egg gently a couple more times, before putting it back down on the ground again.

Sonic stared at the Chao egg intensely, while the egg continued to sit in place. "Is this thing going to hatch?" asked Sonic to himself, biting his lips. Suddenly, the egg started to move around and shake, as it jumped up and down a couple of inches off the ground. As the top of the egg broke off and hatched, the brown Chao jumped straight out of the egg and landed directly in Sonic's arms as it squealed with glee, causing Sonic to fall back onto the ground as the baby brown Chao hugged Sonic joyfully.

While the baby Chao leaned onto Sonic's arms, it gave out a large heart above its small head, giving a blissful smile as it squirmed in delight, fully content and happy in Sonic's arms. Sonic's heart swelled with joy as he held the baby Chao in his arms, not saying or thinking a single word, but simply allowing himself to stretch every last moment with the reborn Chao, gently rubbing the back of its head.

Sonic then felt a small tug at one of his legs, and found a few other Chao of all kinds of colours swarming around Sonic, jumping for attention as they rubbed against Sonic's body. Sonic brought one of his hands to the closest Chao on the ground as he gently rubbed the head of that Chao while holding the baby Chao in the other hand. He then went towards each and every Chao nearby, as they all thanked Sonic with a heart on the ball above its head.

At that moment, Sonic felt for the first time that life was good, and that nothing foreseen could go wrong at any given point. Sonic felt completely in control of the life ahead of him, and for the first time in what seemed like forever, Sonic was at peace with himself.

Sonic put down the baby Chao on the ground, as it crawled over to the closest tree and ate from the fruit that was lying nearby. Sonic then looked around the area nearby and noticed for the first time how many Chao had come to greet him a moment ago, about ten in all. "Where did all these Chao come from?" wondered Sonic aloud. "Surely they must have come from somewhere…"

He then took a closer look at some of the Chao, and found that they were about the same size and shape as the brown Chao was when it first arrived. They were all coloured differently, primarily in colours that were not generally common in most Chao gardens – one was pink, another was plain white, another was bright yellow, and another was dark grey. "They must have been dropped off there just like the brown Chao was a moment ago," said Sonic to himself. "They must all be so lonely…"

Sonic walked over to the stationary portal that the brown Chao came out of, scratching his head over its existence. "This looks exactly like the portal that was in the garden at Station Square," said Sonic. "Miles and I used to take all the Chao we didn't need any more and throw them in there. I always wondered where the Chao went after we sent it away. I know where they go to now…"

Just as Sonic finished speaking, he felt the baby brown Chao crawl up beside him, giving beady little eyes as it looked up to Sonic. Sonic went down to his knees nearby the baby Chao as he smiled warmly at the brown Chao. "Don't worry, buddy, I'm not going anywhere," said Sonic to the Chao, as he patted the Chao's head. The Chao smiled gleefully in response, showing a heart above its head as it bounced around happily.

Sonic picked up the baby Chao as he gazed across the garden, smiling himself for the first time in what seemed like ages. "You need a name, don't you, buddy?" said Sonic, touching the Chao's tiny nose with his finger. "How's Sparky sound to you?"

The brown Chao smiled in agreement, cooing in appreciation. Sonic hugged Sparky as Sparky squealed in delight, giggling as it bounced around in Sonic's arms.

"Sparky it is, buddy," replied Sonic warmly. He gently rocked Sparky back and forth as he sat down in the fields of the garden, content with where he was at that point in time. There was no force on Earth that would get him to leave the Chao garden, not for anything else in the world. Sonic was their guardian, their protector, and their new friend.


End file.
